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Book review:
Baboon Spiders of Southern Africa - A Pictorial Guide
by Patrick Gildenhuys
Publisher: Cadiz street Publishing
December 2009
December 31 I received a package from South Africa, just before I was going to leave to head to friends for new years. I could not fight temptation and opened the package. Sure enough out came a hardcover copy of the Pictorial Guide by Patrick Gildenhuys. OK, only time for a little peek inside. All I can say is WOW! beautiful printing!
Ok, now I have had a bit more time to read the book and as Patrick asked me to give an honest review, here we go!
As said above the printing is beautiful. not only are the photos in focus, Patrick took the trouble to photograph all the diffrent spiders on the same substrate. this way you can really see all the little color nuances. Personally i never knew the diversity in the tarantulas of South Africa was so great. the book not only shows species i have never seen, there are whole genera never seen in the hobby.
every chapter deals with an South African province, the habitat and the various species known from there. And in this come a big difficulty for Patrick.
without researching all the original type specimens you can't be sure with what species you are dealing with. Patrick dealt with this by naming uncertain identifications just as sp. So expect a load of Harpactira sp, Harpactirella sp and so on.
in conclusion, for who is this book?
this is no "Tarantula keepers guide" nor an "identification guide" but just as what it is called a Pictorial guide. the perfect supliment to the Baboon Spider publications by Andrew Smith and A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman.
a jewl in the bookcase of every tarantula enthousiast. and as this is all about the photographs, i wanted the best version out there: the hard cover edition.
Patrick, thank you for taking the time to introduce the rest of the world to the tarantulas of South Africa, this really is a book to be proud of!
Eddy
more info on the book, the author and ordering:
Baboon Spiders of Southern Africa - A Pictorial Guide
by Patrick Gildenhuys
Publisher: Cadiz street Publishing
December 2009
December 31 I received a package from South Africa, just before I was going to leave to head to friends for new years. I could not fight temptation and opened the package. Sure enough out came a hardcover copy of the Pictorial Guide by Patrick Gildenhuys. OK, only time for a little peek inside. All I can say is WOW! beautiful printing!
Ok, now I have had a bit more time to read the book and as Patrick asked me to give an honest review, here we go!
As said above the printing is beautiful. not only are the photos in focus, Patrick took the trouble to photograph all the diffrent spiders on the same substrate. this way you can really see all the little color nuances. Personally i never knew the diversity in the tarantulas of South Africa was so great. the book not only shows species i have never seen, there are whole genera never seen in the hobby.
every chapter deals with an South African province, the habitat and the various species known from there. And in this come a big difficulty for Patrick.
without researching all the original type specimens you can't be sure with what species you are dealing with. Patrick dealt with this by naming uncertain identifications just as sp. So expect a load of Harpactira sp, Harpactirella sp and so on.
in conclusion, for who is this book?
this is no "Tarantula keepers guide" nor an "identification guide" but just as what it is called a Pictorial guide. the perfect supliment to the Baboon Spider publications by Andrew Smith and A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman.
a jewl in the bookcase of every tarantula enthousiast. and as this is all about the photographs, i wanted the best version out there: the hard cover edition.
Patrick, thank you for taking the time to introduce the rest of the world to the tarantulas of South Africa, this really is a book to be proud of!
Eddy
more info on the book, the author and ordering:
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