Fully illustrated in color and most informative, this is a personal story about spiders and arachnophobia. With more than a touch of humor, deep curiosity, and an artist's eye, the author examines her phobia and the object of her fear. What is a spider? What makes these eight-legged creatures so scary? To understand her own reactions to spiders better, she describes her many past and present encounters with them. The story takes her back to her childhood in Norway, to the USA, to holidays in Spain and Portugal, and to travels around Australia. She focuses on fine examples of these astonishing creatures from many places.