Bill Bass is basically one of the coolest forensic anthropologists alive, and I would argue that he contributed in a pretty major way to the field of forensic anthropology with the Anthropological Research Facility (ARF), more commonly known as the Body Farm. So when this book came out, I devoured it, and every now and then I return to it.

The book talks about the history of the Body Farm, and also about interesting cases Bass has dealt with. It’s really neat to read about these real-life forensics cases and Bass’ role in them, from identifying largely burned remains to putting a serial killer in prison. And yes, while the book is pretty graphic, it’s not sensational, and it’s well presented and interesting and, perhaps most importantly, relevant. It makes me want to go to the University of Tennessee just so I can take classes from him.

For those of you who don’t know about the Body Farm, it’s a facility where people study the process of decay. They’ve got bodies in all sorts of environments and situations, and they use their research to help criminal investigators. Before the Body Farm, decay wasn’t really very well understood, and after…a slew of academic papers on forensic entomology, knife marks, chemical signatures left by organisms which feed on the body as it decays, and a variety of other neat topics.

I’m all about research like that done at the Body Farm, so I love reading about it first-hand, from the man who developed it. (And one of the founding fathers of forensic anthropology, to boot.) It sounds like Bass is ready to practice what he preaches, too; in the last chapter, he says that he intends to sign the donation forms which will allow him to be a research subject, although he’s deferring the final decision to his wife.

Demographics:

Death’s Acre, by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Published 2003, 304 pages. Forensics.