Customer Reviews

Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology is Used to Solve the World's Toughest Crimes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Silent Witness:..." by Roxanna Ferllini (Timms), NY, Firefly Books, 2002 - ISBN 1-55297-625-6 (pbk.), 7x10 in., 192 pg., has many photos; glossary, index & bibliography are short.

"SW:..." invitingly promises more than it gives: It has an bold enticing cover, c. 300 ample-sized full-color photos of crime scenes, criminals, forensic trace evidences & diverse illustrations, etc., on premium stock semi-gloss paper -- obviously a very expensive printing, especially for paperback.

Table of contents lists 8 chapters: History of Forensic Anthropology, Bone Talk, Exhumations, Surface Bodies, Altered Remains, Air Disasters, Fires/Explosives & Human Rights.

The talky text has many deficiencies: Throughout, it is overly rambling & verbose, i.e., (pg. 157) "Fingerprinting was one of the various processes utilized, and identifications were also made by molecular biologists who applied DNA analysis." Why not say "DNA & fingerprints were used for identification" and use 7 instead of 20 words? Author uses abject word choices, solecism or inaccuracies in medical/forensic phrasing as, i.e., (pg. 27) "since female humans are predisposed to pregnancy and childbirth" is non-comedic, corny. Why not say "childbearing women" and use 2 not 9 words. And, (p. 31), "cygomatics" referencing cheekbones should be "zygomatics", but problematical is wandering & wayword use of medical/forensic jargon as might a lay person.

The author's credentials (MA in Biol. Anthro.) are restricted to a 2" small space on the inside back cover & indicates she worked with UK Foreign Office as Forensic Anthropologist in Kosovo and for UN in Rwanda, and her interest in facial reproduction, political conflicts, genocide, & human rights is notable & praiseworthy. Thusly, her final Chapter 8 on Human Rights is the single textual useful strong point of "SW:..."

In summary, the book is geared to HS grade level of introductory forensics -- it has many excellent & remarkably good photographs & few hints of favorable text. What this book needs is an insightful editor who could salvage the text of "SW:..." to gain more serious readership, but Chapter 8 is okay.

Every so often you come across a book that is just beautiful. You can tell that hours and hours have been put into the design, the layout and the collection of photographs and other graphics to make this book truly stand out from the crowd. This is one of those books.

The writing is of a very high standard, with some interesting forensic information that I haven't seen before in other books of this type. In my opinion the author strikes just the right balance of detail; not too light but also not to deep and heavy (after all, this isn't a text book for forensic scientists!)

The photographs and case histories have obviously been carefully selected; it would have been all too easy to choose extremely violent and graphic artwork full of blood and gore (criminal forensics is a violent business, after all), but the author has not done this, instead picking out artwork that clearly illustrate her text.

This book is a fascinating look into the world of forensic anthropology and is highly recommended.

i picked this book up at the library because i am fascinated by forensics. this book is an excellent source for someone interested in the subject, it is divided into subject chapters with details and photos of real cases. it explains terms very well, i feel anyone interested in forensics would enjoy this book.

This book is like reading a trashy tabloid - lots of flashy big colour photos, low on substance. Obviously trying to cash in on current interest in forensics, each chapter is poorly written and is accompanied with 3 or 4 case studies.

The material in each chapter seems to be just common sense any adult could write about after doing minimal research and the case studies are too short, repetitive and sometimes don't even make sense.

Very disappointing. I suspect this book is intended for age group around 8-15 although it never says this anywhere.