Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a book that is hard to put down. Those who have read Patrica Cornwell's novel, "The Body Farm", are already familiar with the forensic lab set up by Dr. Bill Bass that studies decomposition of the human body. In "Death's Acre" Bass tells the non-fiction account of how the body farm came to be. Along with the forensic details, are interesting cases that Bass has worked. The cases explain the need for this often gruesome line of study. Thomas Noguchi and Michael Baden used this method very effectively in educating the public about forensic pathology. Bass now opens the eyes of the public by explaining more about the world of forensic anthropology. This is a fascinating and entertaining book, as Bass is able to convey his story with intelligence, humor, and compassion.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a book that is hard to put down. Those who have read Patrica Cornwell's novel, "The Body Farm", are already familiar with the forensic lab set up by Dr. Bill Bass that studies decomposition of the human body. In "Death's Acre" Bass tells the non-fiction account of how the body farm came to be. Along with the forensic details, are interesting cases that Bass has worked. The cases explain the need for this often gruesome line of study. Thomas Noguchi and Michael Baden used this method very effectively in educating the public about forensic pathology. Bass now opens the eyes of the public by explaining more about the world of forensic anthropology. This is a fascinating and entertaining book, as Bass is able to convey his story with intelligence, humor, and compassion.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating book!
Review: This is a wonderful and fascinating book for anyone interested in forensic analysis of human remains. It tells the history of the "body farm", the research facility where human corpses are put out to decompose. The book describes the research conducted at the body farm and some of the most interesting cases that the first author, Dr. Bill Bass who created and runs the body farm, has been involved with. The book is also a sort of professional, and personal, autobiography of Dr. Bass. He comes across as a very caring, charming, humerous and compassionate man. He doesn't hesitate to tell stories on himself, like the time he underestimated the time of death of a body by over 110 years! Oops! I read the book in a day and felt like Bass was sitting in my living room telling me the story personally.
This book is written for the proverbial intelligent layperson. Readers who would like to read a more detailed scientific description of the type of research done at the body farm will like Dawnie Wolfe Steadman's "Hard Evidence: Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology" (2003, Prentice Hall) which includes several papers by body farm scientists.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating book!
Review: This is a wonderful and fascinating book for anyone interested in forensic analysis of human remains. It tells the history of the "body farm", the research facility where human corpses are put out to decompose. The book describes the research conducted at the body farm and some of the most interesting cases that the first author, Dr. Bill Bass who created and runs the body farm, has been involved with. The book is also a sort of professional, and personal, autobiography of Dr. Bass. He comes across as a very caring, charming, humerous and compassionate man. He doesn't hesitate to tell stories on himself, like the time he underestimated the time of death of a body by over 110 years! Oops! I read the book in a day and felt like Bass was sitting in my living room telling me the story personally.
This book is written for the proverbial intelligent layperson. Readers who would like to read a more detailed scientific description of the type of research done at the body farm will like Dawnie Wolfe Steadman's "Hard Evidence: Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology" (2003, Prentice Hall) which includes several papers by body farm scientists.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging, though not for the faint of heart
Review: This is an utterly fascinating book describing a series of case studies taken from the career of the first author, Bill Bass, who is one of the nation's leading forensic anthropologists and the founder of the Body Farm. I had first encountered the Body Farm from reading about it in the book by Mary Roach, "Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers" (a wickedly funny and interesting book in its own right). I have also had a life-long interest in true crime books, so when I found out about "Death's Acre" I ordered it promptly. And I was not disappointed. A previous reviewer expressed some dissatisfaction that the book did not deal solely with the work done at the Body Farm. While it is true that the title of the book is perhaps misleading in this regard, I personally am glad that the book focused as much as it did on the variety of cases that Dr. Bass consulted on throughout his career. I find it more interesting to hear about how forensic anthropology can help bring a murderer to justice than to read clinical data regarding just how many maggots can hatch in a body after 30 minutes in what temperature. This is probably a good time to offer a gentle warning: This is a great book and totally fascinating, but if that last sentence about maggots upset you, you should probably forego buying and reading this book because that is only a mild taste of what you will encounter inside its pages. What happens to a human body after death isn't pretty, and the authors do a great job of describing it clinically and in terms that a lay audience will understand. But you need a pretty strong stomach to deal with it, especially when what is being described is, say, the brutally murdered body of a four-year-old girl. The book also contains a section of photographs, some of which involve decaying bodies (naturally enough given that this is the subject matter of the book), but if you do not particularly want to see pictures of decaying bodies, find another book to read. But I would not want prospective readers to think that this book is gory just for the sake of sensationalism. The authors draw a compelling portrait of the role of forensic science in solving crimes and convicting the perpetrators of the crimes. The tone of the book is always scientific and the attitude toward the victims and research subjects at the Body Farm highly respectful. The writing is also terrific. I think Dr. Blass made an excellent decision when he enlisted Jon Jefferson as co-author, as the writing is more literary and enjoyable than you expect from most mainstream academicians. The only suggestion for improvement I would make is that I wish the authors had included a few more pictures or diagrams of some of the more important diagnostic cues that are relied on in determining gender, age, and race. For example, we are repeatedly told of structural differences in the pelvis and skull that help to determine sex; it would have been helpful to see diagrams illustrating those differences. Bottom line: Terrific book, one that left me half-wishing I had become a forensic anthropologist instead of a psychologist.
Rating:
Summary: In step with today's interest in CSI!
Review: With today's interest in such television programs as CSI and other crime solving technique programs, this audio book "Death's Acre" will be a very popular choice of reading/listening material. It tells the real life story of how author Patricia Cornwell's "The Body Farm" started. The creator of "The Body Farm", Dr. Bill Bass, had no idea just how far this project would go; nor how widely known it would become. All he wanted to do was find a few answers to questions on what happens to a body after death. Dr. Bill Bass has had a long and wonderfully full life in forensic science and more specifically as a forensic anthropologist. He is a wonderful storyteller and shares not only his work but his private life as well. Dr. Bass relates several cases he has been involved with from a revisit of the Lindbergh baby to proving a grandfather murdered his own grandchild for money. Each story held the attention of this reviewer and I was sad to see the audio book end. With more than 30 years of work, I am sure there are many more cases Dr. Bass could share. While bugs are not my most favorite thing to read about, I learned that they are the very things that help a forensic scientist to answer the hard questions of a crime case of when a person was murdered and how long since the untimely act occurred. They are predictable creatures and as such, will provide the answers the scientists need to help the police in their work. Learning about Dr. Bass' private life shows us he is "just another fellow" who does his work and goes home to a family. I, for one, enjoy learning about the author's I read and Dr. Bass is willing to share his family with the reader as well as the details of his work. "Death's Acre" was a hard book (audio) to put down and I was sorry to see the story end. I would be sure to listen to another of his books when one is available.
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