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Beating the Devil's Game: A History of Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation

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Now I know what to get for holiday gifts for those of my friends that are "crime TV" addicts.

This very enjoyable and instructive new book by Dr. Ramsland could also be titled Great Moments in Forensic Science. While everyone who watches the popular forensics shows on TV knows how important DNA, luminol, fiber evidence and other modern-day forensic tools are to solving crime, most people have no idea how these techniques slowly, and often contentiously, evolved into their present-day acceptance in the courtroom. Nor do people have any appreciation of how the early forensic pioneers and their supporters risked their reputations and careers developing, testing and defending the new scientific methods.

In Beating the Devil's Game, Dr. Ramsland gives you just enough of the story, insight into the personalities and description of the cases to satisfy. She makes these forensic initiatives, and the inventors and investigators who nourished them, really come to life. No extraneous, dry technical detail here, just the core of the matter. Unlike so many books on forensics, this one is so easy to read in layperson's language that even a junior high school student can grasp the details.

In her history of forensic science, Dr. Ramsland explores the complex relationship between science and law. None of the new forensic techniques would be used today had they gone through the daunting debate and rigorous challenges we see in the courtroom today. For example, Ramsland uses the O.J. Simpson case. Damning forensic evidence should have returned a guilty verdict, but a jury, unfamiliar with DNA and other technology presented during the trial, was unable to process and accept the scientific evidence for what it was. The unfortunate result was that Simpson was acquitted, but there was an upside as well -- the vast audience that followed the trial was exposed to fascinating new crime-solving science. This influenced the origin of popular television series today, like CSI, Forensic Files, The Investigators, etc.

For anyone who wants to know the story behind the science that is shown every day on TV, this is the book to buy.