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Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating
Spiders, objects of eternal human fascination, are found in many on the ground, in the air, and even under water. Leslie Brunetta and Catherine Craig have teamed up to produce a substantive yet entertaining book for anyone who has ever wondered, as a spider rappelled out of reach on a line of silk, “How do they do that?” The orb web, that iconic wheel-shaped web most of us associate with spiders, contains at least four different silk proteins, each performing a different function and all meshing together to create a fly-catching machine that has amazed and inspired humans through the ages. Brunetta and Craig tell the intriguing story of how spiders evolved over 400 million years to add new silks and new uses for silk to their survival “toolkit” and, in the telling, take readers far beyond the orb. The authors describe the trials and triumphs of spiders as they use silk to negotiate an ever-changing environment, and they show how natural selection acts at the genetic level and as individuals struggle for survival.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
15 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 10, 2016
This book is not shy about using many scientific terms. However, if you are scientifically literate, understand the bare basics of DNA, and have an interest in how spider silk works as well as how it reveals how evolution works, you might give it a try.
Disclaimer aside, I really loved this book. I loved to learn about different ways spinnerets, silks, and the proteins responsible for silks evolved over the millions of years spiders have been on this planet, I loved to learn how these proteins work to make silk stronger, stretchier, woollier, etc.. I loved the new nuggets of information I was able to glean about my favorite topic, the spiders! Such good work on the part of the authors.
Disclaimer aside, I really loved this book. I loved to learn about different ways spinnerets, silks, and the proteins responsible for silks evolved over the millions of years spiders have been on this planet, I loved to learn how these proteins work to make silk stronger, stretchier, woollier, etc.. I loved the new nuggets of information I was able to glean about my favorite topic, the spiders! Such good work on the part of the authors.
December 29, 2017
Would love to see a museum exhibit based on this book.
December 22, 2012
My mother does not like spiders. She really, really does not like spiders.
But I do.
I approached Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig's Spider Silk with hope and dread. Hope that I might learn a lot more about spiders. Dread that the authors would mangle evolutionary theory with over-simplification while trying to use spider silk to teach the general public about natural selection.
One of these emotions was unnecessary and wrong.
First the hope. Spider Silk is not just a compilation of all the cool trivia the authors could dig up about spiders. They present a metric ton of information at all levels of detail, from molecular and genetic to ecological and systematic, in the framework of a coherent narrative. There are a lot of facts, but none of them are superfluous.
As a biologist, I appreciated that the authors were willing to get into the molecular details of spider silk and how those details contribute to the properties of this fascinating material.
Throughout, Brunetta and Craig build your interest, encourage you to think, and then reward your curiosity. Numerous times I found myself thinking "What about this?" or "What if that?". Invariably, the answer or a discussion on that topic would appear a chapter or two down the road.
For example, halfway through Spider Silk I found myself wondering what kind of spider silk (yes, individual spiders produce multiple types) Charlotte would have used to write "Some Pig" in EB White's Charlotte's Web. In the second to last chapter, the authors not only told me which type EB White had Charlotte using, but also which type a real spider would probably use.
Now the dread. When popular science writers set out to educate the general public about evolution through an exciting example like spider silk, many things can go wrong. They can completely conflate the entirety of evolutionary theory with natural selection. They can get the details of natural selection wrong. They could present examples that are not actually good examples of natural selection, or just resort to just-so stories.
Spider Silk had its weaknesses for me; but it was not written for professional biologists with a deep understanding of evolutionary theory. They succeed on several fronts.
First and foremost, Spider Silk may contain the best and most complete explanation of natural selection I have seen written for a general audience. It is clear. It is concise. It describes how directional action emerges from random events. You can hear Leslie Brunetta give this explanation in her own voice during her Skeptically Speaking interview.
The example they use to illustrate natural selection, spider silk, is a phenomenal example of natural selection. Natural selection is undoubtedly the primary evolutionary force that has driven the evolution of spider silk. Not only is this true, but the authors do not hesitate to give the reader the details. Their efforts to explain the different mutational processes and how they contributed to the evolution of spider silk stood out to me.
And historically, they actually give Alfred Russell Wallace his due in his contributions to natural selection, rather than reducing his influence to a letter that got Darwin off his gentleman scientist hindparts for narrative simplicity. They also point out how wrong, and inconsistent, Darwin was about the mechanisms of inheritance and mutation. The geneticist in me always enjoys taking a little bit of the stuffing out of the great man himself, especially in the service of emphasizing the importance of Gregor Mendel's work.
Finally, Brunetta and Craig do an excellent job of continually pointing out that both the environmental context of adaptation and the history of adaptation are critical to what can happen in the evolutionary future.
I am, however, a professional biologists with a deep understanding of evolutionary theory and a tedious pedant. So, I am going to take this opportunity to discuss what I felt were the book's two biggest weaknesses.
WARNING: What follows is tedious biological pedantry -
Their approach is to explain natural selection and then illustrate the technical explanation through the evolution of spiders and their silk. As a biologist, I would have preferred a description of the evolution of spiders and their silk followed by a discussion of why we think natural selection drove these processes.
This "weakness" is entirely based on this reader not actual being a member of the authors' target audience. They are trying to educate. I am wanting to ask if can you present convincing evidence that a result of evolution was primarily driven by natural selection, rather than one of the other evolutionary force. General public. Biologist. You need to pick and know your audience. In my opinion, they chose wisely on the first, and I think they did well on the second.
Which brings us to the second weakness. Natural selection is not the only force that can drive evolution. Because Spider Silk is so focused on teaching its readers about natural selection, almost everything within the book is discussed within that paradigm. I would have preferred to see greater mention of the forces of drift and migration mentioned more prominently as alternatives to natural selection or possible explanations for phenomena that are not readily explainable by natural selection. Again, to be fair, these processes are mentioned in passing, but I would prefer to see them more prominent to help the general public build a more complete understanding of evolutionary theory.
Of course, a book about spider silk, which is, without doubt, primarily a product of natural selection, is probably a poor place for that particular crusade.
- end pedantry
I admire the clever choice to put spinnerets on the cover instead of a spider, which makes the book much more visually approachable to the casual arachnophobe. Still, I don't think I'll recommend it to my mother.
I can guarantee, come the spring, I'll be testing out my new spider knowledge in the back garden with The Frogger and The Bell.
But I do.
I approached Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig's Spider Silk with hope and dread. Hope that I might learn a lot more about spiders. Dread that the authors would mangle evolutionary theory with over-simplification while trying to use spider silk to teach the general public about natural selection.
One of these emotions was unnecessary and wrong.
First the hope. Spider Silk is not just a compilation of all the cool trivia the authors could dig up about spiders. They present a metric ton of information at all levels of detail, from molecular and genetic to ecological and systematic, in the framework of a coherent narrative. There are a lot of facts, but none of them are superfluous.
As a biologist, I appreciated that the authors were willing to get into the molecular details of spider silk and how those details contribute to the properties of this fascinating material.
Throughout, Brunetta and Craig build your interest, encourage you to think, and then reward your curiosity. Numerous times I found myself thinking "What about this?" or "What if that?". Invariably, the answer or a discussion on that topic would appear a chapter or two down the road.
For example, halfway through Spider Silk I found myself wondering what kind of spider silk (yes, individual spiders produce multiple types) Charlotte would have used to write "Some Pig" in EB White's Charlotte's Web. In the second to last chapter, the authors not only told me which type EB White had Charlotte using, but also which type a real spider would probably use.
Now the dread. When popular science writers set out to educate the general public about evolution through an exciting example like spider silk, many things can go wrong. They can completely conflate the entirety of evolutionary theory with natural selection. They can get the details of natural selection wrong. They could present examples that are not actually good examples of natural selection, or just resort to just-so stories.
Spider Silk had its weaknesses for me; but it was not written for professional biologists with a deep understanding of evolutionary theory. They succeed on several fronts.
First and foremost, Spider Silk may contain the best and most complete explanation of natural selection I have seen written for a general audience. It is clear. It is concise. It describes how directional action emerges from random events. You can hear Leslie Brunetta give this explanation in her own voice during her Skeptically Speaking interview.
The example they use to illustrate natural selection, spider silk, is a phenomenal example of natural selection. Natural selection is undoubtedly the primary evolutionary force that has driven the evolution of spider silk. Not only is this true, but the authors do not hesitate to give the reader the details. Their efforts to explain the different mutational processes and how they contributed to the evolution of spider silk stood out to me.
And historically, they actually give Alfred Russell Wallace his due in his contributions to natural selection, rather than reducing his influence to a letter that got Darwin off his gentleman scientist hindparts for narrative simplicity. They also point out how wrong, and inconsistent, Darwin was about the mechanisms of inheritance and mutation. The geneticist in me always enjoys taking a little bit of the stuffing out of the great man himself, especially in the service of emphasizing the importance of Gregor Mendel's work.
Finally, Brunetta and Craig do an excellent job of continually pointing out that both the environmental context of adaptation and the history of adaptation are critical to what can happen in the evolutionary future.
I am, however, a professional biologists with a deep understanding of evolutionary theory and a tedious pedant. So, I am going to take this opportunity to discuss what I felt were the book's two biggest weaknesses.
WARNING: What follows is tedious biological pedantry -
Their approach is to explain natural selection and then illustrate the technical explanation through the evolution of spiders and their silk. As a biologist, I would have preferred a description of the evolution of spiders and their silk followed by a discussion of why we think natural selection drove these processes.
This "weakness" is entirely based on this reader not actual being a member of the authors' target audience. They are trying to educate. I am wanting to ask if can you present convincing evidence that a result of evolution was primarily driven by natural selection, rather than one of the other evolutionary force. General public. Biologist. You need to pick and know your audience. In my opinion, they chose wisely on the first, and I think they did well on the second.
Which brings us to the second weakness. Natural selection is not the only force that can drive evolution. Because Spider Silk is so focused on teaching its readers about natural selection, almost everything within the book is discussed within that paradigm. I would have preferred to see greater mention of the forces of drift and migration mentioned more prominently as alternatives to natural selection or possible explanations for phenomena that are not readily explainable by natural selection. Again, to be fair, these processes are mentioned in passing, but I would prefer to see them more prominent to help the general public build a more complete understanding of evolutionary theory.
Of course, a book about spider silk, which is, without doubt, primarily a product of natural selection, is probably a poor place for that particular crusade.
- end pedantry
I admire the clever choice to put spinnerets on the cover instead of a spider, which makes the book much more visually approachable to the casual arachnophobe. Still, I don't think I'll recommend it to my mother.
I can guarantee, come the spring, I'll be testing out my new spider knowledge in the back garden with The Frogger and The Bell.
February 12, 2014
Excellent book. Can be read just for its description of the different kinds of spiders and the different ways they use spider silk, from lining a burrow to making various kinds of webs for protection and/or capturing prey, to creating a trail to follow back home to making quick escape lines and jumping lines (and more). It can also be read for its excellent discussion of amino acid and protein building blocks, how they are related, and how the different combinations affect the qualities of spider silk. And, the book provides more in-depth and very readable insights into how evolution works.
January 4, 2017
Absolutely great book with the understanding that some parts did get a bit technical or too in depth for my interests and I needed to skip over them. This book was full of incredible information and has only enhanced my interest and respect for these creatures! I recommend it to anyone interested in spiders!
May 17, 2024
Wonderfully written and fascinating book on spider evolution, focused on the purpose and design of silk. Lots of great little factoids within, from protein structure to colouration and web decoration. Some great images and drawings too. Made me fall in love with these incredible and sadly misunderstood creatures all over again!
August 9, 2020
An Unexpectedly Good Read
Silk is so central to the lives and evolution of spiders that the book ends up covering just about everything spider-related. It is both very in-depth and amazingly readable.
Silk is so central to the lives and evolution of spiders that the book ends up covering just about everything spider-related. It is both very in-depth and amazingly readable.
March 2, 2021
I got this book as an attempt to overcome my fear of spiders. I think it worked. I think. Mostly. It is a very good and interesting book and you will learn things about spiders. And you may even come to like them.
January 23, 2022
Amazing read! A few parts felt slightly repetetive, but I understand it was to reiterate essential points. Overall an amazing read. I will definetly read it again, for pleasure and for university!
October 12, 2013
While there were interesting parts, in general, this book was disappointing.
At the beginning of the very first chapter, it says "most evolutionary biologists are loath to speculate about scenarios for which they have no direct evidence". It seems the author doesn't hold to these same restrictions, and seemed to have their fair share of speculation. That doesn't mean there aren't good facts; just that judgement is required along the way.
Easily half the book was spent explaining the general theory of evolution. Some of it was slightly spider related, but much of it wasn't. And this bogged the book down.
There were some great descriptions of spiders and what they do with silk. But, they were so few as to fail to keep the general concepts interesting.
At the beginning of the very first chapter, it says "most evolutionary biologists are loath to speculate about scenarios for which they have no direct evidence". It seems the author doesn't hold to these same restrictions, and seemed to have their fair share of speculation. That doesn't mean there aren't good facts; just that judgement is required along the way.
Easily half the book was spent explaining the general theory of evolution. Some of it was slightly spider related, but much of it wasn't. And this bogged the book down.
There were some great descriptions of spiders and what they do with silk. But, they were so few as to fail to keep the general concepts interesting.
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December 21, 2012Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #146 on January 8, 2012, during an interview with co-author Leslie Brunetta. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #193 on December 21, 2012, on our special Book Review episode. This book was reviewed by Bug Girl and the review can be heard starting at timestamp 00:57:14. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #193 on December 21, 2012, on our special Book Review episode. This book was reviewed by Bug Girl and the review can be heard starting at timestamp 00:57:14. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
January 16, 2022
Not only a great story about the evolution of this creature.
After reading this book, one can fall in love with spiders. Although still fearing them.
They move long distances in the air by rappel or ballooning, build webs on trees, and adapt to different weathers from hot to dry, from desert to the top of the mountains. Their various types of silk provide strength, flexibility, and scaffold during the construction.
After reading this book, one can fall in love with spiders. Although still fearing them.
They move long distances in the air by rappel or ballooning, build webs on trees, and adapt to different weathers from hot to dry, from desert to the top of the mountains. Their various types of silk provide strength, flexibility, and scaffold during the construction.
February 5, 2015
More than 40thousand years "Nano" technology were belong to most of species of Spiders. What would they are, how they can make sticky silk some time their web can hold the bird. These are some ideas you will have, after finish reading. Or may be how to make the profit from the silk sticky web. How to make the safety suit from spider's web to protect our life.
April 6, 2016
Informative and dense, this book was hard to get through, but, on occasion there were surprising or interesting moments. Worth a read if you are absolutely fascinated by spiders and their silk.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews