Books like Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

Visiting the Body Farm in Tennessee would be my idea of a good day out. A scientific research facility which treats death as an informative transition period rather than something static and final, the Body Farm has become world famous.As someone who has been routinely staring death in the face (or more accurately into the faces of hundreds of deceased, recent or otherwise), my desk is usually awash with texts and field manuals produced by William Bass and his colleagues. People often mistakenly believe that archaeologists only deal with the driest of bones. This is not true and a number of my experiences have been remarkably similar to those of Prof Bass (bodies appearing recently buried turning out to have been in the ground for over 120 years like Colonel Shy/ body bags really not being leak proof being two examples).Deaths Acre takes you inside the body farm, providing detailed descriptions of the advances in forensic research, as well as an insight into the inspiration and relationships which led Prof Bass on his remarkable journey from army researcher to forensics lecturer and founder of the worlds most infamous research facility.I have to admit to reading this for the forensic case details rather than info on Bill's personal life but despite being a 'ghosted' volume (perhaps in the literal and literary sense) it was an informative and educational read. Some of the descriptions and images are not for the squeamish so if you're not in possession of an ironcast gut then maybe you should just stick to Patricia Cornwell novels. If you're feeling double tough and want further access to forensic material then Bass's field guide to human osteology should be your next port of call.