Customer Reviews

Entomology and Palynology: Evidence from the Natural World (Forensics, the Science of Crime-Solving)

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This book is part of a series of forensic science books and gives a brief, general, overview of what forensic entomology and palynology are. It is written at young adult comprehension level and is found in that section in my local library. The book provides the reader with an idea of what entomology and palynology are, who practices these areas, and common uses for them as they relate to forensics. It also provides examples, caes studies, and short histories of the fields, but doesn't really get into specifics about techniques or technical details. If you are looking for an in-depth book or one with techniques and procedures, this is not the book for you. In fact, I "Googled" forensic entomology and in the first 3 or 4 websites found virtually everything that this book had within it. On the positive side, this book could be used as a reference source and does list websites, agencies, and resources where one could find more information. Overall, this is an enjoyable, light read on the subject. If you want details, look elsewhere.

Mason Crest Publishers is producing a new series of books on forensic science, which are written mostly for children at the junior or senior high school level. There are currently 12 books in the forensic science series ranging in topics from psychological profiling, to fingerprint and DNA analysis, and their latest edition on entomology and palynology. As stated in the introduction, this series was prompted by the recent demand for more information on forensics, the rapidly growing interest fanned by TV (CSI and the Forensic Files on TV, high-profile court cases, & forensic evidence used to catch terrorists), and the role forensics plays in the apprehension and conviction of criminals.

The book is well-written with little use of technical jargon, nicely illustrated, simple to understand, and covers the topics of forensic entomology and palynology with a very broad "brush" leaving out many details, which one would expect to find in a journal article or professional book on these subjects.

It is obvious from reading the book that the author is interested in and is more versed on the field of entomology than palynology. Three-fourth of her book is devoted to discussions of entomology and only one-fourth of the book is reserved for forensic palynology. In addition, it is obvious that she obtained about 95% of all her information about forensic palynology from articles published in our Proceedings of the IX International Palynological Congress: Houston, Texas, USA, 1996, from articles in our journal Palynology, from articles in the AASP Contribution Series # 33, and from articles printed in the AASP Newsletter. The only major forensic source she missed was the recent book by Lynne Milne (A Grain of Truth). For those of us who have written these original articles, we can see our "fingerprints" and almost direct quotes from our articles scattered liberally throughout her discussions of palynology.

For those of you who are curious about how forensic entomologists use insects (mainly types of flies and maggots) to determine the time of death, whether or not the victim had been using prescription or illegal drugs (i.e. maggots grow much faster if feeding on a victim who used cocaine), and sometime even where the crime occurred, even if the body has been moved (i.e. urban flies and maggots are often different from those living in rural areas), then this book would provide a brief and easy-to-read overview. The book also provides a brief historical look at the development of forensic entomology from its apparent beginning in A.D. 1235 in China, when a farm worker was convicted of a murder because flies were attracted to the fresh blood on his sickle used to kill his victim.

The book is a quick read and will provide you with the basics of how and why both forensic entomology and forensic palynology are effective tools in the search for and apprehension of criminals. If you are a palynologist, I doubt that reading this book will expand your currently knowledge of palynology very much. However, if you study pollen and spores but have no previous knowledge about how pollen and forensics are becoming effective tools in criminal investigations, then you might enjoy the section on palynology. I think it is a great book for children who might want to know more about forensics and might encourage some of them to consider forensics or even palynology as a future career. My major complaint about the book is that throughout the entire section on forensic palynology she makes no mention of the names of the individuals (Mildenhall, Graham, Jarzen, Wiltshire, Bryant, Jones, Horrocks, etc.) who had written the works that she uses to discuss the subject. I also found it amazing that in the book's section listed as, "Further Reading," there is not a single reference to any article, chapter, book, or web site pertaining to forensic palynology!