All That Remains: A Life in Death

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All That Remains: A Life in Death

All That Remains: A Life in Death

RRP: £99
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Through her unflinching eye, we come to understand that life and death are indeed two parts of a continuous whole and that there is much insight to be gained if we approach each of these with curiosity rather than fear. Honestly, my five stars are for a great book, but mostly they are for the woman she is and the service she so willingly provides.

I know her motive was to hopefully shed light on these murders and hopefully bring justice to the murderers and give the victims' families a sense of closure, but they leave the reader hanging, like an unresolved chord at the end of a symphony. Publishing trends are always inexplicable; but recently we have had Raymond Tallis examining his own future cadaver in The Black Mirror, Richard Holloway contemplating mortality (and even immortality) in Waiting For The Last Bus, Maggie O'Farrell chronicling her 17 brushes with death in I Am, I Am, I Am and Kathryn Mannix's subtle With The End In Mind. Black is genuinely moving about the respect we should have for the dead … There is much to admire in this book. I think a good subtitle for this book would be something along he lines of "How to Read a Dead Body Like a History Book about the Life of That Specific Person.The other aspect of her book that I vehemently disagreed with and, in my opinion, had no place in such a book was her mini-dissertation on why she believes people should be able to decide their own life spans. Black’s utterly gripping account of her life and career as a professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology manages to be surprisingly life-affirming.

It is, as she eloquently says, that, “whatever we believe, life and death are unquestionably inextricably bound parts of the same continuum”. This fascinating look by a world-leading forensic scientist at what the dead can tell us is a real eye-opener. This starts off with a very good intro introduction to death in general and forensic anthropology in particular. I do think it helped that I have an anthropological/medical background however, as some of the terms used are quite medical in nature.At first I was hesitant with this book, because there is just no way around it that death is a topic that easily gets gruesome. It also goes into detail about various interesting cases the author has been directly involved with, and how forensics have helped to build a case or resolve a mystery surrounding an individual’s death or that of a major disaster. This book strikes a nice balance between the often tragic and cruel ways that humans meet their maker and yet throughout the book you have Professor Sue Black guiding you through it, providing insight, humanity and showing great respect and reverence for the dead people she encounters.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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