Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales Paperback – October 5, 2004

Death’s Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson is an extremely informative and educational book. Dr. Bill Bass is a forensic anthropologist with an extensive and impressive resume in his field. Through his work as a professor, research conducted, and founding of the Body Farm he has revolutionized the field and brought awareness of forensic anthropology to a much greater public audience. He outlines what lead him to become a forensic anthropologist, shares some of his most memorable cases, and shares what lead him to create the Body Farm. While the book is nonfiction and might not provide the “fantasy world,” many seek to escape into when reading, it truly is a great book to read. It is easy to follow and filled with equally intriguing cases and descriptions of how truly fascinating the skeletal system really is.Bill Bass is most famous for the creation of the Body Farm. The idea of the Body Farm first came to him as he misidentified a corpse that had been buried since the late 1800s as a recent death victim. In other cases described in the book, he also posited that much was not known about how human bodies decay in different environmental and temperature conditions and so the idea of the body farm was formed.The book was extremely informative and equally captivating. Furthermore, if you are like me and the only forensic anthropologist you have heard of is Temperance Brennan of Bones, this book may be a great way to get insight into the world of forensic anthropology. There were multiple topics that were touched on in class like identifying race, sex, and gender from skeletal remains that he went through and talked about in detail in the book. He discussed the inconsistencies between what is dramaticized on TV and what can be considered real science. He used cases he worked on throughout his time in Kansas and Tennessee as tools to describe how forensic anthropologists aid the federal government in homicide investigations or simply determining cause of death. He also provides examples and information of how cause of death can be determined in fires, which was actually pretty interesting. Additionally, he goes through explanations of how bones deteriorate with time and indicate living conditions.I initially began reading the book as it was assigned for a class I was taking called An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. While the book was part of assigned reading for the course, I never dreaded reading it and actually enjoyed it. I think that it was well-written and allowed me to learn something new in a way that was actually rather entertaining. I feel like I also enjoyed the book as he didn’t use a lot of scientific jargon when explaining the more intellectual/scientific aspects of his job and career. Additionally, he provides tidbits of comedic relief by sharing how his personal life intersected with his professional career.

This is an utterly fascinating book describing a series of case studies taken from the career of the first author, Bill Bass, who is one of the nation's leading forensic anthropologists and the founder of the Body Farm. I had first encountered the Body Farm from reading about it in the book by Mary Roach, "Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers" (a wickedly funny and interesting book in its own right). I have also had a life-long interest in true crime books, so when I found out about "Death's Acre" I ordered it promptly.And I was not disappointed. A previous reviewer expressed some dissatisfaction that the book did not deal solely with the work done at the Body Farm. While it is true that the title of the book is perhaps misleading in this regard, I personally am glad that the book focused as much as it did on the variety of cases that Dr. Bass consulted on throughout his career. I find it more interesting to hear about how forensic anthropology can help bring a murderer to justice than to read clinical data regarding just how many maggots can hatch in a body after 30 minutes in what temperature.This is probably a good time to offer a gentle warning: This is a great book and totally fascinating, but if that last sentence about maggots upset you, you should probably forego buying and reading this book because that is only a mild taste of what you will encounter inside its pages. What happens to a human body after death isn't pretty, and the authors do a great job of describing it clinically and in terms that a lay audience will understand. But you need a pretty strong stomach to deal with it, especially when what is being described is, say, the brutally murdered body of a four-year-old girl. The book also contains a section of photographs, some of which involve decaying bodies (naturally enough given that this is the subject matter of the book), but if you do not particularly want to see pictures of decaying bodies, find another book to read.But I would not want prospective readers to think that this book is gory just for the sake of sensationalism. The authors draw a compelling portrait of the role of forensic science in solving crimes and convicting the perpetrators of the crimes. The tone of the book is always scientific and the attitude toward the victims and research subjects at the Body Farm highly respectful.The writing is also terrific. I think Dr. Blass made an excellent decision when he enlisted Jon Jefferson as co-author, as the writing is more literary and enjoyable than you expect from most mainstream academicians. The only suggestion for improvement I would make is that I wish the authors had included a few more pictures or diagrams of some of the more important diagnostic cues that are relied on in determining gender, age, and race. For example, we are repeatedly told of structural differences in the pelvis and skull that help to determine sex; it would have been helpful to see diagrams illustrating those differences.Bottom line: Terrific book, one that left me half-wishing I had become a forensic anthropologist instead of a psychologist.