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

by Jon Jefferson and William M. Bass

Book Overview

"Fans of the forensics-oriented novels of such mystery writers as Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell...not to mention television series like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, will make an eager audience for this one."--Booklist

On a patch of land in the Tennessee hills, human corpses decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. This is Bill Bass's "Body Farm," where...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425198324
• ISBN13: 9780425198322
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Okay

I've always been really drawn to the various "criminal justice through scientific measurement of death" shows and real life cases and such- So of course, when I stumbled upon this book, I was immediately intrigued. While the cases in the book were very cool to read on, for some reason, I wasn't quite expecting so much of an autobiography- which is really not what I wanted. At about halfway through, I decided this isn't the book for me, and there wasn't enough for what I was hoping for in terms of content. The author's writing style, while casual and easy to read, was not a style I prefer, and when I had first started through the book, I found the personal moments (before I realized that this would be more so an autobio) to be quite jarring. It's not to say this book is bad, it's just definitely not for me. I'd recommend it to folks who have an interest in this kind of stuff while also wanting to know the background and history of this Doctor & the Body Farm. I was in it for the specific studies and cases solved, but there just wasn't enough to keep my attention.

Much Better Than I Expected

As the title indicates, this book is so much better than I expected. I expected it would be "drier" given the subject matter. Instead it reads more like a technical medical autobiographical novel. The stark reality of the material is very graphic and will probably be uncomfortable to even the hard core readers. This coroner-scientist-professor does not parse when it comes the facts or the details surrounding death - from the ooze and bugs to its causes, his findings, and legal outcomes. I was engrossed in the book almost from its start. The author integrates the history of the infamous Body Farm with the cases he worked on both before and since its inception. But he writes very well about the various investigatory cases he has been involved with over the decades, including some very unusual medical facts arising therefrom. He is honest about his (few) mistakes and is quite vain about his achievements. He seems somewhat of a name dropper, too. The book could have had less of the autobiographical details and more of the legal outcomes. I highly recommend this book to those readers who watch Court TV, Forensic Files, and even the sugar-coated CSI.

Engaging, though not for the faint of heart

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 difference

Must read for forensic science buffs

I am from Knoxville, TN, and have grown up with the "mystery" of the body farm. The book is wonderful in its detail of how and why the research facility was started. I read the book in two days, and was left with wanting more. For those in the southeast area, you might recognize some of the case studies mentioned in the book, and it's interesting to find out how much UT's anthropology department was involved in those cases.It was also nice to learn more about Dr. Bass' personal life, not just his vital stats. He is a bit of a local legend, so it was nice to see the "human" side of him in this book.For anyone interested in forensic science, don't pass up this chance to learn more about it!

very interesting and informative

Being as the Body Farm is almost in my backyard, and I've heard so much about it, I had to read this book. I was afraid that it might be too graphic, but it wasn't. It was so interesting that I read it cover to cover in less then a week. Mr. Bass writes his stories in such a way that you are totally memorized. I simply never knew all that could be done to a body, regardless of it's stage of decomposition, to find information out about it. My hat off to Mr. Bass and all his years of dedication.

If you like murder mysteries, this is a must read!

Death's Acre is an engaging read. It is so beautifully crafted that the loving, kind, and humerous nature of Dr. Bill Bass shines through the myriad of anthropological detail. The cases Dr. Bass has been involved in, many of which you will have read about or heard in the news, will keep you as spell-bound as any Grisham or Cornwell novel, and they have the added advantage of being true. Dr. Bill Bass is the founder of the real Body Farm, an adjunct of the University of Tennessee, where in-depth studies are conducted on what happens to the the human body after death. Jon Jefferson has done a superb job. I was half expecting to be grossed out by the subject matter but instead I found myself engrossed with the life and thoughts of the gifted Dr. Bass and the writing of the equally gifted Jefferson. If you're in the least bit jaded with fictional murder stories or want to know more of what goes on behind the scenes of murder case, this book will intrigue you.