Ilustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments by Robert Bruce Thompson & Barbara Fritchman Thompson

 

O'Reilly Media Inc
ISBN: 9781449334512
July 2012
Softcover $34.99 US, $36.99 CAN

A detailed lab workbook introducing forensic techniques for collecting, safeguarding and processing potential evidence. This excellent book covers soil, hair and fiber analysis, forensic examination of glass and plastic specimens, how to develop latent fingerprints and reveal blood traces, how to detect drug and toxic materials/chemicals, gunshot analysis and detecting explosive residues, toolmark impressions, matching pollen and diatom samples, extracting, isolating and visualizing dna samples and many other forensic processes.  Complete materials lists precede each lab. Steps are given in a smooth easily followed order. Processes are designed to preserve the evidence and prevent contamination.

As soon as I opened the package, this colorful attractive book drew my interest.  This is my new favorite non-fiction book.

I highly recommend this book to science teachers looking for an interesting subject matter, to those who home-school, and to anyone who is an avid amateur scientist, a writer of crime/mystery fiction, or a reporter who writes about crime and forensics. Since the book is set up in topical sections and is all lab no lecture, it can easily be used for a 4-H project in science or forensics or a science camp topic stream.

*****.

The Crime Scene by W. Mark Dale, MBA & Wendy S. Becker, Ph.D.

Kaplan Publishing, December 2007
Paperback, $19.95
7 X 10, 256 pages, Index
B&W photos throughout, color insert 4 pages
ISBN- 13:978-1-4277-9632-5

A detailed view into the various specialists and tasks involved in getting, examining, and preparing presentation material from crime scenes. Some of the techniques have been glamorized by the popular forensic television shows. In this book, the actual processes are presented based on information from experts in the field.

The many examples from cases, photographs showing evidence protection, development and collection along with the informative charts create an in-depth picture of what is would be like to work in the forensics field. Some of the duties require skills such as photography, while others require advanced education or training in areas such as biology, math or chemistry. This book is an excellent resource for anyone thinking of entering the forensics field. For those who write about crime, or whose work will involve them with crime scenes (such as emergency response personnel) this is an excellent easy to read resource. I found it entertaining, enjoyable and informative. *****