Reviews for Death, decay, and reconstruction

The average rating for Death, decay, and reconstruction based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-03-08 00:00:00 Johnathan Stlaurent This book could be a manual for murderers - the author discusses the details of unsolveable cases. So, to give yourself the best chance of getting away with murder: firstly, get some tools but not locally. Preferably in a place without cameras. Maybe online, if not, pay cash. Go somewhere where no-one will hear you. Wear protective clothing. Hack person you killed into pieces. Distribute them widely preferably underwater and not in garbage bags. Throw the tools into a lake. Burn the clothing. What are the differences and similarities between a pathologist and a forensic anthropologist when it comes to dead bodies? A pathologist is a medical doctor with extra training. A forensic anthropologist isn't the guy to call for an autopsy in the hospital, it's a relatively rare career requiring a PhD in anthropology and deals with putrefying bodies, gone beyond the greasy wax of adipocere into bones picked clean by time and insects. The author was able to identify the cremated ashes found in a box discarded on an interstate even. This is a really interesting book. Both though, sometimes examine disgusting corpses exhumed from vaults full of the gases of decay and decomposition. Both look for the truth, for the method of murder, for the clues to the murderer himself. How and why did these people end up as corpses? n corpses, or bits of them, even recent ones. There was a case where the widow refused to accept that her husband had committed suicide. He had but he didn't mean to and it was difficult to sort out. It was really a case of 'truth being stranger than fiction' People at a train station observe a man at the far end of the platform opposite plunge onto the rails right in front of an oncoming train. His family refuse to accept that he committed suicide and he certainly wasn't pushed. What the author found was that he was peeing on to the tracks and the stream hit the live rail, electricity travelled straight up it and he was electrocuted and died before his body even fell onto the tracks. Related books I read recently are very good, Unnatural Causes is forensic pathology and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death is very light and entertaining. Neither are in the same league as this book. Read October 2019, reviewed December 2019

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-21 00:00:00 Andrew Galindo Well, I loved this book when it focused on actual cases and forensics. I HATED this book when Maples went off on tangents about how brilliant, smart and better than everyone else he was. His arrogance is grating, and I recognize his importance and contributions to the field of forensic anthropology, but you don't have to be so goddamn full of yourself. And if I hear another old-man-forensic-slash-biological-anthropologist brag about how much food he can eat while being surrounded by grisly putrid remains OR about how shocked people are when he pops a bit of human bone into his mouth to check for consistency, I think I will scream. It's old news, guys. Also, I did not appreciate the subtle sexism at play. I am not even sure that Maples himself was even aware that he being sexist, so I tried not to hold it against him, but it was very annoying. Anyway, not sure how to grade this one. Probably four stars when the content focused on bones and dead people. One or two otherwise...