Non-fiction 19 Jul 2004 23:07

The Forensic Science of C.S.I.

coverThe Forensic Science of C.S.I.
Katherine Ramsland

I find it odd that, among the several other books this author has written, you can see things such as “The Science of Vampires” and “Ghost: Investigating the Other Side”. This may explain a little why she is so quick to attribute “intuition” to supernatural causes in chapter 6 (“Science vs. Intuition”). But this is actually quite a good book, despite its small problems.

The book gives an overview of forensic and investigative methods used by C.S.I.s and detectives in their work, with a good level of detail and very good descriptions of procedures and equipments. To do this, she draws from examples taken from episodes of the TV series and from real-life crimes; there are several real examples throughout the book, and they make for a very interesting reading.

One problem with the book is that it repeatedly refers to C.S.I. episodes by their title, without so much as a description of the plot; if you are not a hard-core fan, you will not be able to pick what events are being referred to, and you may not understand certain passages of the book. And, even if you are a fan, you might still need to know the titles of the episodes, which are not generally shown on the broadcasts.

In any event, this is still a very entertaining book, and quite a good guide on what not to do if you’re planning a crime. If you don’t have a strong stomach, though, I would recommend skipping parts of chapter 2, especially the very graphic description of what happens to human bodies as they decompose; the rest of the book is not as gruesome.

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