Customer Reviews

Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques

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2 star:		(1)
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This book is excellent for anyone interested in Forensic Science. Just as the synopsis says this brings to light the reality of forensics as a science rather than psychology. It is in depth but clear and easy to understand - it even has a huge glossary of terms at the rear with the words highlighted in the chapters for easy acess to their meanings. It will be an invaluable help to people with an interest in forensic science. As this book says, it's an introduction on "scientific and investigative techniques" but don't be fooled, the detail is immense and the book is superbly laid out. Clear diagrams, photos and graphs are well placed to help the reader further understand what they are taking in. The text it's self is easy to follow and friendly to read and the concepts are well explained. What I especially like about this book are the questions at the end of each section (nothing formidable) and the case studies and examples that further help to emphasize the points being put across.

This is a superb book...for junior high or high school students. Yes, it is easy to read, but I found the highlighted words in the text (to indicate they are in the glossary) to be a nuisance. The authors over-simplify everything and attempt to encompass too many areas of the broad field, so it will only be of use to readers who have never seen CSI or know absolutely nothing about forensic science. Saferstein's introductory book on forensic science would be a better choice for your money.

While I am using this book for a graduate level introductory course in forensic science, this book is simple and clear enough for undergraduate. In fact, I would venture to say it could also be used for high school level as the previous reviewer had mentioned.

This is not to say that this book is not good enough for a graduate level introductory course. Importantly, it is quite comprehensive (look at the table of contents) and covers a plethora of topics in forensic science that are all lucidly explained by the authors. If one is for instance writing a step-by-step guide to basic CSI, this book could be cited as a reference easily as it explains each step pretty thoroughly for the basics. My adviser won a very prestigious education award in this field, and if it is good enough for him, I believe it would be good enough for your program as well.

As a 10th year college student, I recommend it for not only the reasons I'd already mentioned, but also because it is one of the highest-quality textbooks I've studied for professionally accomplishing the purposes intended. (At this level, having experienced the worst of academic smugness and textbook fallacy that comes with it, I appreciate that this book is scientific, no-nonsense, no awful left-wing agenda, no errors). Again, students can easily use this as reference material in coursework.

So if you're a teacher, check this one out.

One side note: Do not read while eating unless you are on a diet and don't mind losing your appetite.