Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murder, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science

You will not be disappointed!

I am fascinated by forensic anthropology, and few can explain the concepts and procedures of the science like Dr. Bass. His first memoir,  Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales  was tremendously interesting as he wrote of his formal academic introduction into the field and recounted his development of the "Body Farm" interspersed with some stories of his work as a forensic anthropologist. In this second memoir, Dr. Bass discusses 13 new cases he worked on, providing additional insight into the tools, technology and methods that he (and his graduate students and colleagues) have developed and pioneered.The cases themselves are riveting,each (like the stories of the people themselves) are unique and tragic: the case of a home-made fireworks factory that went horribly wrong; the anguish of a family unsure if the body they buried was indeed that of their mother; answering the question of whether J.P. Richardson ("the Big Bopper") survived the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly before succumbing to his wounds. But beyond the macabre fascination of the details of these cases is the sheer brilliance Dr. Bass demonstrates as he clearly, succinctly and briefly explains his craft and the way he is able to arrive at the conclusions he does. That he makes this look easy belies the difficulty of the task, the skill and experience he has, and the strength of his (and Jon Jefferson's) writing.Strongly recommended to anyone interested in the field. Other, related recommendations on the topic are  Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist , The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science , and  Bones: A Forensic Detective's Casebook

I love how Dr Bass tells his stories. His sense of humor is wonderful and he fascinates with the details he gives. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I also read Death's Acres, and enjoyed that as well. I even had an autographed copy of it, which unfortunately was lost in a recent fire with 5,000+ of my other books. Sold devastating. But I was disappointed that in the labeled Photo Insert section of this book, there were no photos. The captions were there, which made it worse, as that really made me want to see the photos. It's the only reason I gave this book a 4 star instead of 5 star rating.

“… on television, they always solve the crime in an hour (actually, in forty minutes, if you subtract the commercials).”So true! This was a fun read, although definitely not a fast or easy read. I expected it to be heavy on the science, and I wasn’t disappointed. I especially liked the follow-through as he revisited several cases over the course of decades as new technologies and techniques made it possible to solve earlier crimes that couldn’t have been resolved without the new tech. And I liked that it wasn’t all wrapped up in a bow – in some cases there really weren’t definite answers – a reality that is frequently ignored in the CSI mindset.As with all the random non-fiction I read, I had hoped to learn something. In this book, I learned quite a few things. Among others, I had no idea that “Although identical twins can’t be distinguished from one another by their DNA, they can be told apart by their teeth.”I also enjoyed his sporadic attempts to lighten up what is surely a seriously dark topic by throwing in personal details like, “Luckily, considering my line of work, I have a poor sense of smell.”And the starting pun was particularly astute. I’m sure that “People these days are just dying to get into the Body Farm….”My only complaint is that the book ended rather abruptly for me at only 79%. Had I been reading the print version (and not the e-book), I would have likely noticed that the backmatter (acknowledgements, glossary, etc.) formed 20% of the book. As it was, I was left expecting more because I’d assumed I had at least another 4 chapters to go…

Love Jefferson-Bass books

My daughter read this after I did so I got her her own copy after I moved. Fascinating read on this subject and the study of decay on bodies in various situations.

I highly admire Dr. Bill Bass & his revolutionary contribution to forensic science with the Body Farm. Sadly this book does not live up to expectations. Looking at this book you would expect it to be filled with information on the Body Farm; the history behind it, different studies that were conducted and what they revealed, etc. What you get instead is what I would consider little information on the Body Farm and a lot of information on how awesome his previous students are, where they are today, his previous books you can read, other bragging points, etc. This book should have been a quick, easy & very interesting read, yet it was all I could do to finish it. You can only take so much. Sorry Bill, your work is amazing, this book was not.

Michael Bill Bass tells the gruesome side of exhumation, but in such a manner that you just wear a little Vicks under your nose and keep watching the process of his science. Bass exhumed a young murder victim in my home state, and provided the State Police with evidence not revealed twenty-five years earlier. It gave the people of Maine a great deal of comfort, and while not accounted for in this book, I feel like I know far more of what he accomplished. Also, the chapter on the exhumation of "The Big Bopper" and the closure for the Richardson family was worth the entire book. I know what we lost on the day J.P. Richardson, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens died. This was a fabulous chapter bringing that story in to full focus. Complaint: I would have like to have seen a picture of Richardson as he was revealed in the open casket. It would have been complete in context.I hope Bill Bass writes at least one more tome of studying justice and accuracy through forensic anthropology. Riveting subject.

Arrived quickly ad as described

Very nice book. I couldn't put the book down and it took me one week to finished it. For someone who is interested in the anthropology and forensic science, this book is excellent choice. Thank you for it.

This book is an excellent follow up to "Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales". If you're a writer, you'll find lots of ideas and information in Dr. Bass' past cases. In particular, this book contains a lot of information about establishing Time Since Death, and a great timeline of various important anthropological discoveries regarding decomposition. Word of warning though, it's not for the squeamish.

For anyone who has an interest not only in detection and forensic science, but readers of Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell, and viewers of "Bones", "NCIS" and of course "CSI" this book is more than recommended - its a must. The information and detail is straight forward without being sensational, the readability is high - and the only thing missing from this book is the smell of "decomp" - thankfully this book is not a "scratch 'n' sniff". Very Highly Recommended.

Good read