Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science [Hardcover]

Richard Platt (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Revealing the very latest high-tech techniques of forensic detection, Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science is a truly absorbing book that uses case studies and amazing digital imagery to show how science helps uncover the truth about how crimes were committed and who carried them out.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This heavily illustrated but simplistic book takes readers step by step through the stages of criminal investigation, focusing on the ever-developing field of forensic science. In many investigations, Platt writes, forensic science can offer proof "with a level of objectivity and plausibility often lacking in other forms of evidence." Platt (Secret Worlds: Villains) begins by noting that "everyone is a suspect," and that investigators need to keep a healthy skepticism: even confessions don't always mean guilt. Photos show crime scenes (cops making arrests, taking statements, photographing evidence left behind), crime labs (serologists analyzing bodily fluids, forensic anthropologists reconstructing skeletons) and tools of the trade (a crime officer's kit for the good guys, "poisoner's favorites," like arsenic and deadly nightshade, for the bad guys). Platt also includes photos of disasters caused by explosives (in Oklahoma City) and plane bombings (Flight 103 over Lockerbie) as well as car wrecks and arson. Economical, even cursory, prose and the blocky layout of the pages give the volume a certain high-school-textbook feel, despite the occasional gory bits. Aimed at the neophyte, this volume offers a good overview of the world of forensics. Color photographs throughout.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Richard Platt is a well established author with more than 20 books to his credit. He has written and contributed to many DK titles including four Eyewitness Guides: Cinema, Pirate, Spy and Shipwreck. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st edition (May 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789488914
• ISBN-13: 978-0789488916
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Platt has been writing for children since 1992. One of his books, Castle Diary, was shortlisted for the Kate Maschler Award, The Times Education Supplement award, and a History Today prize. His Pirate Diary won the Kate Greenaway Medal 2002, the Silver Smarties Award 2002, and won the 'Best Book With Facts' prize in the Blue Peter Book Awards 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very simplistic and not very informative, August 26, 2003

By 

R. M. Barge (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science (Hardcover)

I was really, really disappointed in this book. There is very little information in it, other than the broadest strokes of information about forensics. It is disjointed. Even the photographs are often totally wasted, such as models posed as victims without illustrating *anything* -- just photographs of some guy or girl in a pool of blood, or tied up.

ake, for example, fingerprints. There is like one sentence that says, basically, sometimes iodine vapor is used but it turns things brown and is temporary. No photographs of how it is done, when it is necessary, what the chemical reaction is, etc. This book is written for an eighth grader. You will learn more interesting things about forensic science on CSI!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The illustrated pamphlet on criminal investigations, September 28, 2003

By 

Kenneth D. Lustig "Entertainment Connoisseur" (Holloman AFB, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science (Hardcover)

This book's target audience is the Hardy Boys mystery crowd. While every page is filled with colorful photographs and great looking illustrations, the depth of information conveyed is extremely thin. While the scope of the material is broad, covering crimes from homicide to cybercrime, you won't learn much about any real criminal investigation beyond what you'd learn from your average dime store crime novel series.

As a reader-friendly overview, it's fine. If, for instance, you happen to be a casual citizen who wants to get a general idea about what police investigators do, or you're an 8th grader looking for material for a Middle School research assignment, this might be an ideal book on the subject. The writing is easy to understand and again, there are lots of great looking pictures and illustrations (though some of them are a tad graphic).

However, if you are a member of the law enforcement community or some other kind of professional investigator, you aren't going to get much out of this title. Look elsewhere for a true reference book on Crime Scene work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid primer for the non-professional, June 7, 2004

By 

Elizabeth K. Reiter (Fountain City, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science (Hardcover)

The ulimate guide to forensic science is well written , easy to understand informative for both individuals with a general interest in the topic and also for young people wishing to understand a career in forensic science. It is strictly a primer, as are most books in the colorful DK line. As such, it is a book that anyone can pick up to learn a general outline on many topics without being weighed down with too much technical information. A good basic book for the non-professional.