Hidden Evidence: Forty True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped to Solve Them

This book is good and has a lot of info. if your into forensic Science. This book is pretty interesting if you want to learn in this subject. If you have to do a report on a science subject this is pretty good but its kind of long.

If you like the T.V. shows C.S.I., Forensic Files, F.B.I Files, etc., you will love this book. From Jack the Ripper to OJ Simpson, it tells the history of crime and the role forensics plays in investigating crime. It explaines in detail the techniques used by forensics departments then gives real life case studies as examples of those tecniques. Even though it goes into detail about these techniques, it is very reader friendly/easy to understand. The only disclamer I would put on this book is that it is not for the weak stomached! Some of the pictures and text are quite graphic, so be aware of that. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if you are a young adult who is interested in forensics, a retired FBI agent or anything in between, you will find this book fascinating!

David Owen's Hidden Evidence focuses on forensic science's role in solving forty real crime cases provides a history of the evolution of forensic science and the sleuthing techniques involved in solving modern times. Fans of true crime stories will find Hidden Evidence selects and analyzes forty true crimes, providing insights on how forensic science helped solve them.

Forensic science began with the 17th century invention of the microscope, became even wider spread as a police crime solving tool with the 18th century invention of photography, was expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries to include everything from fingerprinting to DNA sampling. Hidden Evidence: Forty True Crimes And How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them showcases the history of this unique crime solving resource from 1775 and Paul Revere's use of the dentures he made to identify the body of Dr. Joseph Warren after the doctor had been fatally wounded at Bunker Hill, to 1923 when forensic scientist Edward Heinrich tracked down train robbers who had murdered an entire train crew in cold blood through a set of overalls. David Owen surveys the characteristics of all types of deaths from drowning and hanging to strangling and suffocating, the collection and use of various kinds of physical evident, numerous weapons, and more. Hidden Evidence is informative, engaging, highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the role forensic science has made for itself in crime detection and law enforcement from its inception to the present day.

I'm always a little leary of saying a book like this is fun. I don't want people to think that forensics is anything but a serious science, and one that is unfortunately used way too often in this world. I've always wondered why I am fascinated by this particular field, and it worries me less it says something bad about me. However, I can say that of all the professions especially in the sciences, forensics is the one that comes nearest to being able to solve puzzles and mysteries and still manage to get paid for it! When I see a book like Owen's I find it is hard to put the book down. Like other reviewers, I wish the author had put more information in the book about the techniques and the crimes. I did not recognize some of the crimes, so when the author refers back to them it is difficult to understand where the technique was used. The photography and graphics were phenomenol. For someone like me, who is deaf, graphic presentation is as important as the written presentation of the science. I feel like the author got all these pictures (and that was a lot of work doing this research, because I have not seen many of the pictures before)and did a rush job on the writing part. The book is still very good, and I think this is a valid book to refer to for people who are deciding whether or not to go into the particular field as a career. It is basic, but it provides enough information and 'gore' to see if a person can stand dealing with the awful situations in which forensic scientists are called upon to view. I know in medical school I was a little leary of if I was going to be sick when we had to go down to the morgue, for fear I'd get sick or not be able to do my work. I found out that it didn't bother me (except for children)and it did bother my interpreters (went through 3 in less then a month!) It is imperative for people who are even considering this field to look at a book like this to see how squeamish they are in dealing with this stuff. I know too many people who tried to become doctors or nurses who had to quit because they could not deal with death and illness on a daily basis. How much more important is it for someone who will be exposed to violent death to decide whether this field is actually for them? This book would be a good career guide for this field. They no longer just use a coroner, but specialists in anthropology, entomology, firearms, photography, psychology, etc. and the need for these trained people is going to increase because of population increases. For the most part this was a good book, but be aware that the author does not give as much information about a lot of the crimes as many people want. This book is mainly about the science behind the police and prosecutors, and not about the crimes themselves. If the reader is interested in the crimes themselves, they will have to go elsewhere to find the information. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh