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Title: Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes by Henry C. Lee, Thomas W. O'Neil, Charles D. Gill ISBN: 1-57392-985-9 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: April, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.04 (23 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Reading time well spent
Comment: Despite the fact that this book 1) was boring at times due to the plethora of technical facts, 2) the poor editing, and 3) the lack of writing skill of the author, I enjoyed this book immensely and felt that I learned a great deal from reading it. I came away from it feeling glad that I took the time to read it. Contrary to how I feel after reading some books written in a highly polished manner, this book came across to me as very real (this ain't Agatha Christie), and the author came across as a diligent, intelligent, scientifically minded, fair, and appropriately humble man.
What I learned: I got a glimmering of the huge amount of painstaking examination of detail involved in forensic pathology, I got an idea of how court procedure can hinder the bringing out of the truth, I got a glimpse of how easy it is to bungle the preservation of the evidence, and I got a picture of the number of dedicated people who work together trying to solve whodunits. I also got a view into the personalities of a few wife-murderers.
The page 9 gaffe about chopsticks not falling to the floor in a vacuum was written by Judge Gill (was his memory of the story correct?) and the page 54 mention of those gigantic red blood cells should have been edited out. Two things that stood out in my mind were: the fact that the drops of blood on Nicole Simpson's back were washed away! (evidence which could have incontrovertibly established the innocence or guilt of O.J.) and the fact that the young girl's testimony that Edward Sherman had had a phony telephone conversation with his wife (attempting to make others think she was still alive) was thrown out at the trial.
This book held my interest. I'm glad that we have people like Henry Lee, Michael Baden, and Cyril Wecht working so hard for all of us. And I find it fascinating to get a peek at them and how they do their work, in a down-to-earth, unglorified, objective way. That is what this book did for me.
Rating: 2
Summary: Old wine in old skins
Comment: It's interesting that there are two alternate theories concerning how Dr. Lee might think that gravity does not exist in a vacuum put forward in the reviews below. The first is that it's the editor's fault and that Dr. Lee really said something else, and the second is that it is the judge's fault who reported the quote. His ability to keep straight what was said by Dr. Lee is suspect, and presumably he does not understand basic physics also. We need a good forensic scientist to get to the bottom of this mystery. The book is OK, but is a little dry, and in places does seem confused. Maybe this is attentional, as Dr. Lee has a lot going on with all of his media committments as well as solving crimes, and presumably teaching, so that he cannot focus all of his concentration on the task at hand and produce a coherent work. Also, a lot of the stuff has appeared in other places and hence the title of my review. For the reviewers out there who know all about Dr. Lee (they seem to be writing reviews here), what exactly are Dr. Lee's qualifications. Is he a medical doctor or a PhD, and if a PhD, in what? I know that it says on the book flap that he is faculty somewhere. Just curious.
Rating: 1
Summary: Gravity and Vacuum again.
Comment: The case of the literary editor versus the emminent (Gggguuffaw!!) scientist.
Of course the case in question was Havermeyer versus Dunbar, where Dunbar cracked Havermeyer over the head with the candlestick in "the vacuum of space." This was why the emminent scientist was expounding on "no gravity (in the vacuum of space)."
The case of Havermeyer versus Dunbar was thrown out after the judge notified the eminent scientist that the gravitational constant, G, was first measured by Henry Cavendish in 1798, and found to be -6.67*10^(-11) Newton.meter^2.kg^(-2), to which the eminent scientist responded (inexplicably), "I didn't expect the bloody Spanish inquisition."
Sometimes the shortcuts in editing are preferable to what the eminent scientist meant (but have less intrinsic comedic value). I hope this clears things up. Could a literary editor make this mistake, or just an eminent scientist?
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Title: Famous Crimes Revisited: From Sacco-Vanzetti to Oj Simpson by Henry C. Lee, Henry, Dr Lee, Jerry Labriola ISBN: 1928782140 Publisher: Publishing Directions Pub. Date: 05 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Henry Lee's Crime Scene Handbook by Henry C. Lee, Timothy Palmbach, Marilyn T. Miller ISBN: 0124408303 Publisher: Academic Press Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $69.95 |
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Title: Blood Evidence: How DNA is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes by Henry Lee, Henry C., Ph.D. Lee, Frank Tirnady ISBN: 0738206024 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner by Michael M. Baden ISBN: 0804105995 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 28 March, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers by Michael Baden, Marion Roach ISBN: 0684852713 Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: 04 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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