Herbert Spencer Zim (1909–1994)

I found an interesting spider up on Mount Rainier a few years ago. The pale blue egg sac caught my attention. I guessed it was in the wolf spider family, roaming around at 1800 meters (6000 feet). I snapped a few photos and continued on to botanize.A few months later, I added an observation on iNaturalist. I know this was a wolf spider (family Lycosidae) but not much more. After a few hours,someone suggested this spider was in genus Pardosa.

A few years later, confirmed the ID at the genus show more level and noted that in Western Washington, only this genus has blue egg sacs. I then asked Rod about how to get to a species level ID. I asked them to recommend a good beginner's book on spiders. They suggested Spiders and Their Kin by Levi et al. I ordered a copy of the book, and when it arrived, I noticed it was a Golden Guide, which I had thought of as a children's book. I was wrong! This book was a perfect introduction. It covers land arthropods other than insects, including spiders, scorpions, harvestmen, mites, centipedes, millipedes, and wood lice. The book starts with the classification, anatomy, and behavior of spiders and their kin.

The book's core is an illustrated review by family of spiders, spider relatives, myriapods, and land crustaceans. It has worldwide coverage. The length of each section varies based on the number of species. For example, orbweavers (Araneidae) cover 19 pages, about 12% of the book. This section was helpful, especially a two-page spread on how orbweavers build their webs. The unit on wolf spiders (Lycosidae) helped me understand the behavior of the genus Pardosa.

This book will sit beside me while working on my iNaturalist observations of spiders and their relatives. It's a good introduction in 160 pages. One caveat is that this isn't a detailed species identification guide but should be helpful to classify down to the family level. show less

I have a collection of Golden Press field guides, but I rarely have a use for them. Now I figure instead of waiting for camping trips as an excuse to bring and refer to guides, I should read them and pick animals that live in my area and scout for them.

The artwork, unsurprisingly, is amazing. It's a shame that the publication is so small because easily it could have been printed large to focus on the paintings and have the data paragraphed in corners to accent the visuals.

Usually I study show more the theories and phenomena in the natural world, but I don't take enough time to appreciate diversity. I had never heard of three quarters of the birds in this book, many of them live in my region. I definitely need to take my camera, pack for a day in the field, and stock these animals based on the information provided in this book (and perhaps a more specialized one). Otherwise I'll live in a neighborhood where I never see my neighbors, and I don't think that's the right approach to life. show less

How I loved this book as a boy. I read it cover to cover, and used it to construct secret codes. My copy did not make it into adulthood, but I'd like to think it's out there somewhere amusing some 10 or 14 year old. Oh, but they have cell phones and the internet now, so that's probably not so likely. Too bad.

As kids, we had several Golden Guides, which offered a handy means of identification of animals we'd encounter in our yard, the woods, and the nearby park. This guide probably didn't get much use (since other than the occasional garter snake and frog, our paths weren't crossed very often by amphibians and reptiles. Nevertheless, it was fun to page through the guide to see the different types of lizards, snakes, and turtles. Who'd have imagined that someday I'd grow up and make such animals show more the subject of intensive study, and to build a research career out of them! show less