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Irrefutable Evidence: Adventures in the History of Forensic Science

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Kurland's Irrefutable Evidence is a decent overview of the history of forensics and of various modern methods with some discussion of the miscarriages of justice when forensics was pushed past the skill of the expert or the limits of the discipline.

The book covers in more or less detail fingerprints, firearms ID, pattern matching, autopsies, blood stains and typing, DNA, forensic anthropology, forensic entomology, profiling, arson, and some of the known junk science. It is a good introduction to the field for readers interested in going beyond CSI and its televised and written ilk. However, while it mentions the 2009 National Academy of Science report critical of forensics in the United States, it does not integrate the findings into its criticisms, nor does it come to any conclusions about the future of forensics or future reforms.

It would make a good basic to intermediate reference for those interested in forensics, especially for writers, but does not stand on its own as a source book for anyone deeply interested in the field.

Any crime buff should read this book to understand the forensic science that supports criminal investigations. Michael Kurland has done a credible job of documenting the various fields, tools and techniques in criminalistics, including items like fingerprinting, DNA analysis, toxicology and ballistics. He makes sure that the reader knows the strengths and weaknesses of each technique and augments his review with examples from criminal cases. In addition, Kurland includes the history of each technique including how it came to be and when it was first used succesfully in a criminal investigation. Kurland also covers some of the unreliable techniques that were used in the past, like phrenology, handwriting and bite mark analysis. For any fan of true crime, this is a fascinating and informative work.