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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forensic anthropology, October 23, 2000
This is one of the most interesting books I've read in a long while. It's about forensic anthropology. If the title sounds boring, don't be mislead. Ubelaker has done a masterful job of interweaving the science of forensic anthropology with some really interesting detective stories. The result is a wonderful blend of story telling, murder mystery, and science rolled into one.One of the first things I liked about this book is that Ubelaker talks to the reader using the same correct anatomical names of bones that you'd expect from one of the foremost experts in the field (which he is). That's not to say the text comes across stuffy or condescending. On the contrary. I got the feeling that even though I'm a complete novice in this area Ubelaker has treated me, the reader, with enough respect to speak to me in correct terms, while putting at my disposal the means to catch up with his vocabulary. For example, he put a glossary of terms at the end of the book, and a simple sketch of a human skeleton, so you can look up the funny sounding words and find out what they mean. The ulna and radius, for example, are the two bones in your forearm. The talus is one of the bones in your ankle. I always appreciate an author who educates me. Someone who makes me learn something new. But I especially appreciate that person when they make the learning process interesting and natural. Not all authors do that, and fewer still do it well. You might expect a book on forensic anthropology to be laid out in topical chapters. One chapter might tell you all about the names of the bones. Another might discuss characteristic marks on bones from knives, etc. Still another might discuss the technical details of decomposition. Well, Ubelaker does all that, but he does it without you actually realizing that it's happening. He does it by constructing virtually the entire book out of case histories from his personal experience. These case histories are grouped, roughly, into chapters that each teaches a different concept. But he does not teach by recitation of fact and rot memorization. Instead, these case histories are laid out like miniature crime mysteries, with Ubelaker walking the reader through the story, showing how the bones hold the key to the mystery, and explaining how they tell their story. This isn't a textbook, though I wouldn't be surprised to find it on a list of recommended reading for an anthropology class. Rather it is a book meant to introduce first-time readers to the subject in an interesting and informative manner. It's meant to both initiate interest in the subject as well as to inform. I learned a lot of interesting things from Ubelaker's book. For example, I had no idea that anthropologists can tell different human groups apart from their skeletal remains. I'd always assumed that we look pretty much the same under our skins, but that's not the case. Telling men from women is pretty easy, and telling the difference between European, Mongoloid, and African origin is not too difficult, either. Little clues about which bones have fused together, the size of nasal openings, and the widths of certain bones allow anthropologists to make remarkably accurate determinations when they have a well-preserved full skeleton. And, depending on circumstances, they can even tell age with a pretty good level of confidence. Even when the amount of bone is very limited, I was surprised at some of his examples of the wealth of information that could be inferred. Some of the case stories involve especially poignant human tragedies (every human death is a tragedy, but the stories of some of the victims tear at your heartstrings a little harder than do others). At first Ubelaker seems a little detached in his telling of some of these stories. But as I worked my way through the book it became clear that he is a first-rate professional, and that beneath the academic exterior there is a kind and compassionate heart that understands the human component of his work, and treats it with the utmost respect and dignity. This book is about death, and the application of science in determining the cause of death based on examination of corpses. Some of the descriptions are graphic, and there are definitely some chapters you won't want to read during a meal. One of the questions that puzzled me during the beginning of the book was how scientists are able to determine, based on the degree of decomposition, how long a body had been dead. Science is based on experimentation, you know, and this area is no different than others. Make sure when you read that chapter you're not eating a sandwich. The book has about 300 pages and it's illustrated with black and white drawings and a few black and white photographs. I found it very engaging. I picked it up at the Portland airport just before a trip to Boston. Five days later, when I returned to Oregon, I'd finished it. If you like a good mystery, practical applications of the scientific method, and if you have some interest in crime, forensics, or anthropology, I think you will be as fascinated by this book as I am.
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