Saturday, February 4, 2017

Blood, Bullets, Bones: the story of forensic science from Sherlock Holmes to DNA

2016, Balzer & Bray.  Written by Bridget Heos

Turn on any television network, and you'll find programming about murder, mystery, and a savvy team of solvers.  It seems there is an interest in forensic science, but it's also a science that is very broad.  And that's where this amazing YA book comes in.  It captures the history, as well as the interest found today in our modern society.

Not only is this a book about forensic science, but it's also about the history of forensic science.  How long has this practice been instituted (far longer than the FBI and CSI)?  How has forensic science changed over the centuries?  These are just a few questions this book will answer.  It also includes some interesting facts including:

The word "coroner" derived from the English word "crowner," (SUPER interesting how this came about!)

The very first FBI group, which happened in Europe, not the States

The trend of murder in the 1800s - early 1900's (not, it's not guns either)

How forensic science investigation has changed from the macabre to the technological.

The best part of this is that there are numerous different cases Bridget Heos inserts that gives the readers as sense of where this science was during that particular time. Readers will have insight into the science AND the judicial side as well and how that has morphed into what it is today.

 This isn't a book filled with scientific vocabulary. From testimony to "expert" witnesses, admissible information to complete accidental findings, Heos takes the reader on a scientific journey that will pique curiosity, perhaps make you cringe a little, and explains this exacting science in a narrative format that young adults will be drawn to.  Heos  inserts cases into the narrative, but also historic and current images that solidifies what forensic science looks like.

Highly recommended for upper JH to HS and beyond.

No comments: