All That Remains
A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes
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3.7 • 10 Ratings
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- $42.99
Publisher Description
Book of the Year, 2018 Saltire Literary Awards
A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Month
For fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, Kathy Reichs, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality.
Dame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book, which is part primer on the basics of identifying human remains, part frank memoir of a woman whose first paying job as a schoolgirl was to apprentice in a butcher shop, and part no-nonsense but deeply humane introduction to the reality of death in our lives. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller readers, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all.
Cutting through hype, romanticism, and cliché, she recounts her first dissection; her own first acquaintance with a loved one’s death; the mortal remains in her lab and at burial sites as well as scenes of violence, murder, and criminal dismemberment; and about investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident, or natural disaster, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. She uses key cases to reveal how forensic science has developed and what her work has taught her about human nature.
Acclaimed by bestselling crime writers and fellow scientists alike, All That Remains is neither sad nor macabre. While Professor Black tells of tragedy, she also infuses her stories with a wicked sense of humor and much common sense.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writing with disarming frankness, forensic anthropologist Black, the director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, takes a multipronged approach to the topic of death, exploring it through scientific, sociological, historical, and philosophical lenses. Black's tone alternates between clinical and deeply introspective, with unflinching descriptions of causality and the physiological processes of dying. With vivid detail, she recounts her earliest experiences in anatomy courses, including her first human dissection a cadaver, whom she fondly named Henry (after the 19th-century anatomist Henry Gray). Black reflects on her far-ranging career in forensics, whether at the front lines of criminal investigations, cold cases, or applying her knowledge to archeological endeavors. Regardless of one's familiarity with death, no person is immune to the sting of loss, Black suggests, as she poignantly reflects on watching her own loved ones die. Parting missives are wise and assuring, but never coddling: "Skeletons are more than dusty, dry old relics: they are the footnote to a life lived, sometimes retaining sufficient resonance to ensnare the imagination of the living." This is a perceptive study of a subject both deeply uncomfortable and uncommonly engrossing.
