Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

American Sherlock: Murder, forensics, and the birth of crime scene investigation by Kate Winkler Dawson

6 reviews

linneak's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

phoebemurtagh's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

4.0

This was a really good look at the birth of modern forensics. Heinrich was unlikable to me. I felt like he spoiled his sons too much.  But the science part was interesting. As were the cases he helped to "solve". I also love the epilogue that pointed out the flaws in both his and some modern forensics and the parts throughout the book that did so. But especially the part of the epilogue that points out the lack of universal training standards for forensic "experts" and the lack of understanding of the juries on the reliability or lack thereof, of certain types of forensics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

3.0

This was an interesting look into the American judicial system and the life of the man who created the framework how evidence could be evaluated and understood that is still used today. The narrative was slow to pick up, but I really enjoyed the author's use of excerpt from letters between Heinrich and his librarian best friend. His obsessive record keeping meant that this book was very detailed, which I also enjoyed. The author added some of her own opinion on the past and current state of the American judicial system, in terms of corruptness and lack of justice for the many people wrongfully convicted and jailed, that I think Heinrich would have agreed with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Abortion

laurataylor's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kmhandy's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

This was an interesting dive into the history of forensic science and criminology, which I didn't know anything about.

The author writes about several of Oscar Heinrich's biggest cases, which also reveal some of his biggest scholarly contributions to the field of criminology... and his biases. Each chapter is about a different case.

I found myself more interested in Oscar's personal life. It was fascinating to me that he could be so well known and yet also constantly struggling financially. He also felt keenly the stress and burden of being the household breadwinner. He started expressing a desire to retire in his late 40s/early 50s and yet he worked into his 70s. Perhaps society hasn't changed much at all when it comes to our working lives.

The saddest thing I took from this book is about the justice system. Judges, juries, and lawyers are human and come with all kinds of prejudices that science can't solve. And the science isn't always correct, either.

This was a meticulously researched book and would be good for people who enjoy forensics and true crime. But it didn't pull me through very quickly. I wanted this to be a little more engaging and page-turning than it was. But it was still quite good.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail