Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind

By Sue Black

Book Overview

In her memoir All That Remains, internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist Dame Sue Black recounted her life lived eye to eye with the Grim Reaper. During the course of it, she offered a primer on the basics of identifying human remains, plenty of insights into the fascinating processes of death, and a sober, compassionate understanding of its inescapable presence in our existence, all leavened with her wicked sense of humor. Now in this book, Black builds on that memoir, taking us on a guided tour of the human skeleton and explaining how each person's life history is revealed in their bones, which she calls the last sentinels of our mortal life to bear witness to the way we lived it. Her narrative follows the skeleton from the top of the skull to the small bones in the foot. Each step of the journey includes an explanation of the biology--how the bone is formed in a person's development, how it changes as we age, the secrets it may hold--and is illustrated with anecdotes from the author's career helping solve crimes and identifying human remains, whether recent or historical. Full of entertaining stories that read like scenes from a true-life CSI drama, Written in Bone is infused with humor and no-nonsense practicality about the realities of corpses and death.

• Format: MP3 CD
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DFTCVX7F
• ISBN13: 9798228046627
• Release Date: August 2021
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Customer Reviews

Oof I wish I could give a higher rating

There are so many fascinating small details in this book that really lit up my understanding of the human body. It was very fun to learn so much about skeletons. I knocked off two stars because there's one section where the author is talking about a murdered trans woman and straight up calls her a slur and goes on a weird diatribe about trans and gay people?? Like, it's hard to be trans and this trans woman got stuck doing s*x work before her death but that's no reason to spend two paragraphs ragging on her. She's a murder victim for God's sake. I want to like the book but that part jarred me so badly and just left me very confused. Is that the sort of person you want working on your corpse? Someone who will call you slurs and deadname you if they have a poor opinion of how you lived?

Enticing, educational, and entertaining

One never knows when some small fact will end up providing a crucial clue to solve a murder mystery. This book is full of the kinds of details that shine light on deaths of an indeterminate nature. Ms. Black’s descriptions of crime scenes (via the bones discovered) are memorable.