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Rating: 
Summary: Amusing. Oddly-aimed, though.
Review: Nancy L. Stair, Choosing a Career in Mortuary Science and the Funeral Industry (Rosen, 2001)
I'm having a problem figuring this book out. I judge the reading level at junior high, which is about where Amazon puts it (listed as "ages 9-12,") but really, doesn't the subject matter seem, well, wrong to you? I'm all for telling kids about the funeral industry, but doesn't it seem like something they'd be more interested in post-puberty, when they get introduced to goth? (Seriously, on one goth/noise mailing list at which I lurked for about nine months, the number of people in school for various funeral industry jobs was staggering.)
Well, one way or the other, Choosing a Career in Mortuary Science and the Funeral Industry is an interesting overview. It's somewhat broader than its title would suggest, also covering some things that go on outside the morgue and the funeral home (e.g., CSI-style forensic science careers), and in a book this short, it's trying to cover one or two too many topics for it to get into anything resembling detail; this is a seriously surface-level overview. It may, however, point kids who are interested in such things into more directed reading, which is never a bad thing.
Still, I'd have liked to see at least a little more detail, especially of the statistical kind. Telling people that the number of jobs available in the industry is supposed to steadily climb at least until 2008 doesn't really count for much if you don't give some numbers as to what's already out there. All well and good if there are positions sitting open now, but if you've got ten graduates for every job...
Worth checking out, but as a primer for those who want to go on to deeper reading in the subject. ** ½
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