THE FASCINATING TRUTH BEHIND WEB WEAVERSDespite Little Miss Muffet's well-documented confrontation, most spiders are quite harmless--except to smaller bugs. In THE BOOK OF THE SPIDER, spider specialist Paul Hillyard explores the engaging world of arachnids--especially the funny and often absurd ways in which humans respond to more than 35,000 known species of spiders. Covering the complete spider spectrum, from folklore and myths to ancient scientific studies to techno-spiders building webs in outer space, the author reveals a captivating social history of the most misunderstood of God's creatures.THE BOOK OF THE SPIDERanswers a number of questions, both obvious and obscure, all fascinating: How can humans forecast weather by observing a spider's actions? Why is black-widow venom more dangerous than a rattlesnake bite? Why are spiderwebs often used to dress wounds and coagulate blood? What's the best cooking method for spider a la carte?