All That Remains: A Life in Death

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I spend the day in a soft space where there is a sense of safety and calm…While occupying each box, I am aware that I am striving to be an inert observer. I thought it tread the line between sharing general knowledge on the topic and moments from Black's own life perfectly, making this both an informative and very humane read, exposing an oft taboo topic in a conversational and enlightening manner. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller readers, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all. I think there must be better books out there that could describe forensics and pathology in a more clinical, better written and interesting way without the philosophical meanderings.

So a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star, which I would have given if she had stayed with what she knows best. She also describes her childhood, her family, and the deaths of beloved family members, her first funerals. In 1999, Sue Black – one of the world’s leading forensic anthropologists – found herself confronted by a “nightmare scene that could never be adequately described”. I also saw her speak live, and the manner in which she catastrophised her experiences in Africa, and ridiculed the abilities of medical professionals dealing with minimal resources in the aftermath of civil war is appalling.Whether in Kosovo or in Thailand, where she assisted with identifying victims after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Black accepts that such forensic work is “a job that nobody else in their right mind would ever want to do”. I read a lot of crime fiction, I've watched Bones and Silent Witness, I knew this was definitely going to be my cup of tea. And don't forget about the smell if you try to hide body parts in your cupboard or beneath your driveway (yes, she's seen this). 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.

And there are some stories from court, including the surreal experience of giving testimony and having no idea what to expect from either the prosecution or the defense. I suppose I was less taken with the small sections near the beginning of the book that seemed to be more like a familial memoir or history rather than delivering facts and experiences.

Cutting through hype, romanticism, and cliché, she recounts her first dissection; her own first acquaintance with a loved one’s death; the mortal remains in her lab and at burial sites as well as scenes of violence, murder, and criminal dismemberment; and about investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident, or natural disaster, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. But she doesn’t think twice before volunteering, believing passionately that we need to show “that our humanity transcends the worst malevolence of which our species and nature are capable”. She has seen incredible strength of character from family members, even when the most horrible things have befallen those they love. This book is perfect for you if you are an avid (true) crime reader, who is looking to expand their interest in the non-fiction genre. Apparently it's hard to cut up/saw through a corpse without scratching the bath surface and it's very difficult to clean all the necessary drainage parts.

I think it was these chapters that effected me the most deeply, as the descriptions of some of the scenes Sue Black is involved with are, simply, horrendous. Unless the author is chasing money in which case it will be a Twilight situation with a million teenage vampire romances. While Professor Black tells of tragedy, she also infuses her stories with a wicked sense of humor and much common sense.She describes finding the bodies of missing people, how that is accomplished, how to pinpoint time and cause of death. Join me as I meander through the quirky and curious aspects of history, indigenous spirituality, the natural world, animals, art, storytelling, books, philosophy, travel, Māori culture and loads more.

You get to know her as a loving mother, a no-nonsense woman, and she never fails to keep in mind morality. A mixture of Mary Roach's Stiff and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, this book discusses the author's personal interactions with the dead, but also what her work has taught her about what it means to be alive.She is able to compartmentalise the pain, suffering and harrowing violence done to people by other people into a locked room in her brain. If you have no aspirations to forensics or anthropology, or indeed anatomy, it matters not - Dame Sue Black is an inspirational person to all. Black was on a BBC show where, along with a team of fellow scientists, they examined remains of people who lived hundreds of years ago in an effort to figure out who they were and how they died. She mixes quite a lot into her autobiography her feelings and thoughts - perhaps too often and over-the-top, imho.