Book: Dissecting Death

 Book: Dissecting Death

Author: Frederick Zugibe

Pages: 256

This is my 163rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

As chief medical examiner of Rockland County, NY, for almost 35 years, Dr. Frederick Zugibe literally wrote the book on the subject - his widely used textbook is considered the definitive text.  OVer the years he has pioneered countless innovations, including the invention of a formula to soften mummified fingers - enabling fingerprinting, and thus identification, of a long-decreased victim.  He has appeared as an expert hundreds of times in the media and in the courtroom - and not once has a jury failed to accept his testimony over opposing expert witnesses.  And now, he has opened the door to the world of forensic pathology in all its gruesome and fascinating mystery.  Dr. Zugibe takes us through the process all good pathologists follow, using eleven of his most challenging cases.  With him, we visit the often grisly - though sometimes shockingly banal - crime scene.  We inspect the body, palpate the wounds, search for clues in the hair and skin.  We emply ultraviolet light, strange measuring devices, optical instruments.  We see how a forensic pathologist determines the hour of death, the type of weapon used, the killer's escape route.  And then we enter the lab, the world of high-tech criminal detection: DNA-testing, fingerprints, gunshot patterns, dental patterns, X-rays.  But not every case ends in a convitoin, and in a closing chapter Dr. Zugibe examines some recent high-profile cases in which blunders led to killers going free, either because the wrong party was brought to trial or because the evidence presented didn't do the trick - including Jon-Benet Ramsey's murder, and, of course, the OJ Simpson trial.

Stars: 4