Rating: 
Summary: terrific read
Review: "Corpse" is nauseating on two counts. First, it includes grisly details of murders so heinous they will haunt your waking hours, if not your nightmares. Second, it describes step-by-step, many times, exactly what happens to a rotting corpse. If you are unaccustomed to reading or thinking about such things on a regular basis, it will turn your stomach. Despite my disgust for the subject matter, I found the book hard to put down. It was entertaining to read about how experts in various academic fields--entomology, anthropology, and botany--have been recruited for time-of-death determinations. Some of these engaging personalities became the first forensic ecologists. The book describes some of their research projects as well as the crimes they helped solve. Although "Corpse" gives center stage to the entomologists and anthropologists, the three chapters near the end about botany and chemistry show the reader that these lines of research are equally credible and promising. I didn't really know anything about this subject before reading the book, and now I know almost too much about it for my own peace of mind. I find myself remembering all the crime scenes I've ever read about or seen in movies, and critiquing them in light of what I've just read. In summary, "Corpse" is fascinating, memorable, and informative, but definitely not for the squeamish.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For the Squeamish
Review: "Corpse" is nauseating on two counts. First, it includes grisly details of murders so heinous they will haunt your waking hours, if not your nightmares. Second, it describes step-by-step, many times, exactly what happens to a rotting corpse. If you are unaccustomed to reading or thinking about such things on a regular basis, it will turn your stomach. Despite my disgust for the subject matter, I found the book hard to put down. It was entertaining to read about how experts in various academic fields--entomology, anthropology, and botany--have been recruited for time-of-death determinations. Some of these engaging personalities became the first forensic ecologists. The book describes some of their research projects as well as the crimes they helped solve. Although "Corpse" gives center stage to the entomologists and anthropologists, the three chapters near the end about botany and chemistry show the reader that these lines of research are equally credible and promising. I didn't really know anything about this subject before reading the book, and now I know almost too much about it for my own peace of mind. I find myself remembering all the crime scenes I've ever read about or seen in movies, and critiquing them in light of what I've just read. In summary, "Corpse" is fascinating, memorable, and informative, but definitely not for the squeamish.
Rating:
Summary: "We know WHO killed Cock Robin..., but WHEN did he die?"
Review: "Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death" by Jessica Snyder Sachs, ISBN 0-7382-0336-X (hardcover). Perseus Publishing 2001 is a 270 page discourse (including 10 page index) written by a seasoned freelance science journalist. Sachs provides us with the historical interest in and the subsequent development of a multitude of devises used to arrive at the best 'Time Of Death' (TOD = Ger. Death) that ofttimes may reveal the why, where, when, whom (and whom not) of an unexplained death. Sachs proffers physician Antistius of Rome as the first forensic 'pathologist' (mass murder plot on Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.), reviews the classic triad of rigor, algor, and livor mortis (reliability generally limited to 48 hours post death), and discusses ongoing search for those time markers which may critically span hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades using analyses of vitreous humor, cadaver impedance, and the singly and combined forensics of entomology, botany, and anthropology with a discussion of the "Bugs, Bones, and Botany" death-investigation workshops for cops and coroners devised by Byrd and Hall by the late 1990's. Sachs examines the more recent pursuits to pinpopint time of death by probing and quantifying specific insect (e.g. Diptera) and plant DNA profiles, cadaver soil leachates, aroma patterns, relative ratios of amino acids and degradation product assays (e.g. cadaverine, putrescine, GHB and GABA) of decomposed flesh. A shrewdly-written succint but highly informative must read inquiry for those professing to be informed on 'Time of Death'. The price is right and I'd suggest the hardcover edition.
Rating:
Summary: all we are is dust in the wind ...
Review: Corpse is grisly, graphic reading. As one reader remarked, it is certainly not for the squeamish, as Sachs describes week by week what happens to our bodies as we gradually decompose. The book is much more than a mere cataloguing of which insects devour us in which order, though. At the root of the book is the important question of determing time since death - critical in the correct prosection of murder crimes.
I found the details fascinating of how forensic scientists (entomologists, anthropologists and even microbiologists) are learning more about the decompostion, dessication and eventual disintegration of human bodies. I was similarly riveted to the numerous stories of how the science was evolving and gradually coming into use in the courtroom. The book is certainly not for everyone, and be prepared for the odd sideways glances from those who see you reading it. But it is a guilty pleasure (pardon the pun) for those who have the guts (sorry, had to do it) to read it through. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: all we are is dust in the wind ...
Review: Corpse is grisly, graphic reading. As one reader remarked, it is certainly not for the squeamish, as Sachs describes week by week what happens to our bodies as we gradually decompose. The book is much more than a mere cataloguing of which insects devour us in which order, though. At the root of the book is the important question of determing time since death - critical in the correct prosection of murder crimes.
I found the details fascinating of how forensic scientists (entomologists, anthropologists and even microbiologists) are learning more about the decompostion, dessication and eventual disintegration of human bodies. I was similarly riveted to the numerous stories of how the science was evolving and gradually coming into use in the courtroom. The book is certainly not for everyone, and be prepared for the odd sideways glances from those who see you reading it. But it is a guilty pleasure (pardon the pun) for those who have the guts (sorry, had to do it) to read it through. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read!
Review: Highly readable, well written, well researched, entertaining, informative, gripping... An excellent introduction to the area of forensic study.
Rating:
Summary: A Forensic Buffs's Best Reading
Review: I am a certifiable forensic "nut". This book is masterful, engrossing and "habit-forming" (many late nights for me attest to this!). Her writing is eloquent, clear and entertaining. Congratulations to you Ms. Sachs. You have won over a very choosy soul when it comes to forensic "entertainment". I have read the rest and now, one of the very best! At first I did not think it would appeal to me (a Christmas present from sisters who think my maudlin fascination with forensics is "icky") but I can't put it down and don't want it to end. I never knew time of death could be so engrossing and "cross-over" into so many interest facets of forensics that appeal to me.
Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING & CREEPY!
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It is a must read for anyone interested in science, death, anatomy, or just the bizarre aspects of decomposition! Really interesting stuff in here and the writer is at turns witty, serious, and altogether a prolific story-teller. A definite favorite in my own collection of books to read and re-read. GREAT!
Rating:
Summary: Deeply researched overview on forensic biology/anthropology
Review: If you missed the chance to meet the slightly oddballish but at the same time most interesting forenic guys from the U.S. who work on insects found on corpses, know all about how the bones of a 40-year old black male should look like, or how long it takes for a sunflower to grow on a corpse, this is the book for you. The author did an amazing job in contacting more or less all well-known scientists from the U.S. forensic biology/anthropology crowd. Since some of Snyder-Sachs' protagonists wrote their own books, you can even use those to go a little deeper into biographical, or scientific detail. Meanwhile, „Corpse" will give you a popular, deeply researched overview over the field of postmortem interval determination. The book has lots of drive since it goes from case report to case report, plus it will give you a good idea about how the forensic people work, think and behave.
Being a European reader, I also like the fact that some historical remarks found their way into the book. But don't be afraid, it's not dry numbers but mostly case reports again. If you are a non-U.S. reader, you may find it interesting to learn more about the variety of scientific methods that were checked and approved by the legal system in the U.S., and to compare it to your own.
As a forensic scientist, I am also glad that „Corpse" is out now since many of my undergraduate students cannot tell the difference between what happens at the „Body Farm", a Chief Medical Examiner's Office, and an Institute for Forensic Entomology. If they keep pestering me, I'll just send the next forensic generation to the library (which is a good place to visit, anyway). There, „Corpse" will tell them all in the best possible popular way.
However, you absolutely don't need to be a student to enjoy the book. It will make a good bathtub, or late night, or train ride read for anyone interested in criminalistic techniques, stories, and deduction. And who would not be?
Rating:
Summary: Ashes to Ashes
Review: If you're not afraid to look death in the face, CORPSE reveals the beauty in nature's waste-not/want-not recycling of the human body ... or any carcass, for that matter. Sachs's sweeping history of time-of-death research shows that forensic types have long shied away from such a hard, unvarnished look at death. As a result, pathologists have been hosing off the autopsy table some of their most valuable clues--namely maggots. And who would have thought that the weeds beneath a corpse or the leaves and vines above it could be used as clocks to measure time since death? There's a certain, delicious irony in the fact that so-called "soft scientists" (ecologists, botanists, entomologists, and the like) are succeeding where all the high-tech forensic approaches have failed. Sachs describes this newest forensic approach in vivid detail and takes us on lots of actual cases. Fun, enjoyable reading. The gruesomeness is well tempered by Sachs's appreciation for the beauty in nature.
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