Customer Reviews

Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science

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Beyond the Body Farm is a collection of vignettes from the wide-ranging experience of forensic anthropologist Bill Bass. He and co-writer Jon Jefferson intrigue readers with stories illustrating the many ways forensic science has helped bring criminals to justice. At the same time, they provide a basic education in anatomy and physiology for the layperson.

I appreciated how Dr. Bass was able to share true-crime stories without indulging in shock tactics. Although murders, almost by definition, can be gruesome, Bass dwelt on the science of his investigation, rather than on gory details.

I also liked the way the majority of the stories stood on their own. It was easy to get through an entire chapter whenever I had a few minutes to spare.

One feature of his writing I found unappealing, however, was his habit of starting one story, introducing another one in which the investigative process was similar, then winding his way back to the original story. I found this circuitous path distracting; rarely did it enhance the main story for me.

Overall, however, Beyond the Body Farm was a good read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's curious about the constantly advancing field of forensic anthropology.

Armchair Interviews says: If you are a "forensic junkie"--watching all those shows on TV, this book would give you added insights.

Dr. Bill Bass is, without a doubt, the most famous and prestigious forensic anthropologist in the United States, if not the world. He is the creator of the famous Body Farm at the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus and he has consulted on thousands of cases throughout his long career.

This book is a group of cases that he found to be of particular interest and range from researching ancient bones in the Middle East to digging up the remains of the Big Bopper. The book contains about 15 such stories, each roughly a chapter long and each discusses various unusual aspects of forensic anthropology. It is well written and has a touch of dark humor added.

If you like crime shows and forensic shows, you will love this book. It contains just enough science to make it interesting to those with a science background, but not so much as to overwhelm the average reader.

With two body farm novels (see FLESH AND BONE and CARVED IN BONE) and an account of his forensic anthropological work (see DEATH'S ACRE), Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson provide a sort of autobiographical account of the former's work in Kansas and more so in Tennessee where he created the first "living" forensic research lab. Dr. Bass gives credit to his instructor five decades ago Dr. Krogman, known as the "Bone Detective" who got him interested in the unnamed at that time field of forensic anthropology. He also credits Patricia Cornwell with her novel THE BODY FARM for making him famous and his type of work acceptable amidst the public; without Ms. Cornwell there is no CSI on TV. However, the fascinating segments of the book are the cases over the last fifty years that run the gamut from the Big Bopper to the wrongly identified corpse to a fireworks factory explosion to ancient Persia to solving modern day cases for local police departments. It is these cases and how he and his team solved them by shaking and tossing of the bones that makes for a fine CSI read with Harry Houdini appearing as a star performer in a future exhumation.

Harriet Klausner

Dr. William M. Bass is one of the world's most renowned forensic anthropologists, and expert in the study of what happens to the human body after death. He was made famous by his novels ("Carved in Bone" and "Flesh and Bone") and by his memoirs ("Death's Acre: Inside the Body Farm, the legendary forensic lab"). In this fascinating book, Dr. Bass looks back on some of his more interesting cases - everything from examining ancient skeletons at an archaeological dig in Iran, through identifying a person by looking at a disembodied skull, watching bugs, what happens to people who were caught in a fatal explosion, and so much more. (Including such interesting things as what he found when he examined the body of Jiles Perry "The Big Bopper" Richardson.)

This is a fascinating and very entertaining book. You would think that a book about dead bodies would be creepy, or perhaps dull and academic, but this book is anything but! The authors do an excellent job of presenting Dr. Bass's cases in an interesting manner, teaching you about forensic anthropology at the same time that it entertains you with fascinating events and witty dialog. I loved this book and don't hesitate to recommend it to everyone!

Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility (ARF), made famous by its more colloquial nickname in Patricia Cornwell's novel "The Body Farm" is a world class scientific institution dedicated to the thesis that dead men DO tell tales.

Did you know, for instance, that entomological studies have determined the rate at which blow flies and maggots attack a decaying corpse is related to a wide variety of variables such as humidity and accumulated degree-days since the date of death? Of course, this means that historical weather records and the degree to which a corpse is infested by flies, maggots, pupae and pupa casings can be used in an uncannily accurate model to determine time since death. I was awestruck to find out that one dedicated graduate student spent months preparing a database of the forensic evidence that is left behind when a murder victim is dismembered by a saw - ANY kind of saw ... hack saw, coping saw, cross cut saw, ripping saw, circular saw, configured with ANY kind of blade, tooth count, pitch, thickness and so on. I was equally fascinated to learn of the minor skeletal differences that can be used to distinguish between the world's major races - caucasoid, negroid and mongoloid. Other differences such as sex, age and stature can be determined to an incredibly high level of accuracy with an almost unbelievably small amount of intact skeletal evidence.

Bill Bass's first book, "Death's Acre" is a poignant autobiography, both professional and personal, of Bill Bass, the Body Farm's celebrated founder; a history of some of the most interesting forensic cases that were the driving force or the raison d'ętre behind the directions in which Bill Bass's professional life evolved; a celebration of the development of his students and professional colleagues; and, of course, a history of the science of forensic anthropology which, even today, might be considered to be in its infancy and barely out of the nursery.

The sequel, "Beyond the Body Farm" is just as exciting but, rather than being a mere memoir is more a collection of vignettes describing the details of a series of specific cases that Bill Bass found particularly challenging, especially moving or perhaps even unique in the history of his work on the Body Farm. For example, you'll be amazed at the ability of modern science to determine the cause of death of a Persian soldier whose remains, dead and buried for thousands of years, were discovered by an archeological team working in Asia. You'll be charmed at how forensic reconstruction of facial features (made famous in fiction by Iris Johansen's character, Eve Duncan) helped to identify the remains of a long-lost girl and provide closure to a grieving family. You'll learn that it is virtually impossible for a criminal to cover his tracks with even the intense heat of an accelerated arson fire. And, my personal favourite, you'll enjoy the description of Bill Bass's fascinating work with the family of the Big Bopper to put to rest any ideas of scandal, foul play or missing bodies after his untimely death in a tragic airplane crash.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the two non-fiction works that Dr Bass has produced, I'm looking forward to the fictional Body Farm novel series that begins with "Flesh and Bone". Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

If you like the BODY FARM series, you'll like this book. It even shares some of the same characters. The only difference is that these are all real cases. Same writing style that makes it all very interesting. I'm only half-way through, but it's a great, easy read . . . at least for me!

This book is more a memoir than a straight fact-book on forensic anthropology. Bill Bass describes the cases primarily from the viewpoint of the part he played rather than the case as a whole, though he does tell us how the cases end. He gives information on the places the cases occurred, the things that happened to him, and how he felt during the case as well as information about the case and the methods he and his students used to identify the bodies and the murderers.

He is usually working with bare bones, so much of the book isn't very gruesome. However, if reading about maggots eating human flesh or detailed descriptions of bodies mangled from an explosion turns your stomach, you might want to re-think reading this book.

Overall, the book is well-written, interesting, and moves along at a good pace.

Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews
http://differenttimedifferentplace.blogspot.com/2009/02/beyond-body-farm-by-bill-bass-jon.html

My impression is that this book was written fairly quickly using material that the author had to hand when writing his other fiction works. Still, it is interesting to read how the application of forensic anthropology can solve mysteries tens, if not hundreds, of years old. Dr. Bass spares no details about the conditions of the bodies (or parts of bodies) he finds and investigates, and some of the stories truly heartbreaking, but most readers on this subject have probably been exposed to worse. Overall a very fast read on compelling subject.

Dr. William Bass has written an entertaining and informative book about real forensic science. While he discusses the differences between television forensic science, such as show like "CSI", and the less flashy day to day life of a real CSI, he still makes real life forensics seem exciting and interesting.

Dr. Bass has written novels based on his experiences at the Body Farm, but I haven't read any of them. This real life look at crime scene investigation is as interesting and compelling as any screenplay or novel.

Although some of the cases were very touching, and all of them tragic in one way or another, this book still offered entertainment, information, and built a true respect for real forensic scientists.

I read this book to see how Dr. Bill Bass, a noted pioneer in forensic anthropology, handled some of his baffling cases. It did not disappoint. Dr. Bass choose cases in which he featured a different forensic technique (bones, teeth, x-rays, DNA, etc.) and explored how those techniques, plus his tremendous experience, usually combine to make an identification or solve cause of death. The informal style allowed one to clearly follow along the biological, forensic, and legal issues being addressed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to any aspiring forensic scientist. I only had two problems with the book. The first was the lack of a bibliography. Often, Dr.Bass would mention one of the contributions of others in the field, often his students, but you had no idea what they wrote and would have to google them to get additional information. The other problem was a major error in chapter 16 which is the third of three chapters on the Leoma Patterson case. Dr. Bass introduces DNA, and in describing its structure, he confuses the nitrogen bases. Adenine always bonds to thymine and NOT to guanine as Dr. Bass rather emphatically indicates. Also, cytosine does NOT always bond to thymine, but rather to guanine. I find it difficult that this was missed in the editorial process, and for me detracted from an otherwise good read.