All That Remains: A Life in Death

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In All that Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and what her work has taught her.

The harrowing stories of her involvement in identifying mountains of bones in charred buildings in Kosovo in the 90’s or in body identification after the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand are the most powerful and moving parts of the book, these have an emotional immediacy to them that other parts of the book lack. A bunch of notes on the author's personal life, private meetings with death, career and anthropology.The book considers death in its clinical and personal aspects: the seven stages of postmortem alteration and the challenges of identifying the sex and age of remains; versus her own experiences with losing her grandmother, uncle and parents.

I happened to listen to the section where author and Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, Sue Black, narrates her first time cutting up a cadaver at the same moment as I was slicing up a steak for my very spoilt doggo's dinner.Her time there, as part of a team investigating war crimes, clearly had a significant effect on her as a person and that really comes across in the text.

It fascinates me and I'm always hungry for more information on this subject, but when push comes to shove, I don't think I could do that kind of work, day in, day out. She also gets love because she shouts out the interpreters her team worked in with Kosovo and recognizes to the mental and emotional toll of communicating the words of those who have been through such horrors.

Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. It was these chapters I found the most interesting, as it builds on knowledge the reader takes from earlier chapters. The humanity, delicacy and sheer grit exhibited here and elsewhere in the book would alone have me recommending this book.

Reading this book is like watching your favorite crime series only much more down to earth and more realistic. And if you don't believe in God, at least be wise enough to look at where such dangerous thinking leads.I like the way she thinks, love her humor and am amazed at her tolerance for incredibly trying situations.