Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

Death’s Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson is an extremely informative and educational book. Dr. Bill Bass is a forensic anthropologist with an extensive and impressive resume in his field. Through his work as a professor, research conducted, and founding of the Body Farm he has revolutionized the field and brought awareness of forensic anthropology to a much greater public audience. He outlines what lead him to become a forensic anthropologist, shares some of his most memorable cases, and shares what lead him to create the Body Farm. While the book is nonfiction and might not provide the “fantasy world,” many seek to escape into when reading, it truly is a great book to read. It is easy to follow and filled with equally intriguing cases and descriptions of how truly fascinating the skeletal system really is. Bill Bass is most famous for the creation of the Body Farm. The idea of the Body Farm first came to him as he misidentified a corpse that had been buried since the late 1800s as a recent death victim. In other cases described in the book, he also posited that much was not known about how human bodies decay in different environmental and temperature conditions and so the idea of the body farm was formed. The book was extremely informative and equally captivating. Furthermore, if you are like me and the only forensic anthropologist you have heard of is Temperance Brennan of Bones, this book may be a great way to get insight into the world of forensic anthropology. There were multiple topics that were touched on in class like identifying race, sex, and gender from skeletal remains that he went through and talked about in detail in the book. He discussed the inconsistencies between what is dramaticized on TV and what can be considered real science. He used cases he worked on throughout his time in Kansas and Tennessee as tools to describe how forensic anthropologists aid the federal government in homicide investigations or simply determining cause of death. He also provides examples and information of how cause of death can be determined in fires, which was actually pretty interesting. Additionally, he goes through explanations of how bones deteriorate with time and indicate living conditions. I initially began reading the book as it was assigned for a class I was taking called An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. While the book was part of assigned reading for the course, I never dreaded reading it and actually enjoyed it. I think that it was well-written and allowed me to learn something new in a way that was actually rather entertaining. I feel like I also enjoyed the book as he didn’t use a lot of scientific jargon when explaining the more intellectual/scientific aspects of his job and career. Additionally, he provides tidbits of comedic relief by sharing how his personal life intersected with his professional career.

Dr. William Bass sheds light on the world of forensic anthropology in his book Death’s Acre. He highlights his and the profession’s humble beginnings, incredible growth, and great future potential in his writings. From the foreword, it is clear that Bass is highly respected in his field and a passionate academic. He details how his career led to the creation of the body farm and how forensic anthropology took off from this research lab. Though this book is foremost a memoir of Bass’s extraordinary career, it shows the importance of physical anthropology. Bass showcases the great amount of information we are capable of learning from so little -- how the dead can tell a life story through a pile of bone fragments. He speaks to those that have interest in this field, but may have little knowledge about it. He keeps such dark and haunting cases lighthearted and interesting, creating a different point of view to the typical fear we associate with skeletons. I believe he did a wonderful job in explaining the little known world of forensic anthropology. Bass writes as though he is having a conversation with a friend, immediately creating a sense a familiarity with the reader. This tone, along with his descriptive language allows the reader to truly feel as if they are there at the scene with Bass, sifting through gravel to find bone fragments. At first, it seemed as if he was too flowery, in a sense, with his details of the environment and his surroundings. As the book continues though, I realized he was truly painting the picture of the whole scene and the whole picture needs to be seen by an investigator. He talks of “shooting in and shooting out” of every scene, shooting pictures that is, and his words allow you to see those pictures in your own mind. The detail also allows for those who are not educated in bone anatomy to understand what is happening, opening the audience to a much wider group of people. With each case he speaks to, he drives home the idea of skeletons as storytellers. In the case of James Grizzle, Bass is able to recreate the story of Grizzle’s last moments simply by looking at the state and position of his burned bones. He walks the reader through every step, every clue that speaks to him. With each detail, he allows the reader to piece together the puzzle and narrate the victim’s end. He also highlights the variety of fields that forensic anthropology interconnects with. His graduate student, Arpad, uses biochemical research to estimate time of death. Another student, also named Bill, researched the entomology around cadavers and greatly enhanced the forensic science field with his findings. The dirt, bugs, and bone fragments told more about a victim than anyone would imagine. I highly recommend this book, especially for those with an interest in forensics or anatomy. Background knowledge in these subjects isn’t needed, just an interest. As a physiology major, I am passionate about the study of anatomy and enjoyed seeing a different application of this subject. I often think of the study of the human body in a medical sense, to help a living person, but hadn’t considered how the information could help one that has already passed on. Bass keeps his story entertaining, relatable, and interesting throughout, a great read for someone that loves a murder mystery.

This is an utterly fascinating book describing a series of case studies taken from the career of the first author, Bill Bass, who is one of the nation's leading forensic anthropologists and the founder of the Body Farm. I had first encountered the Body Farm from reading about it in the book by Mary Roach, "Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers" (a wickedly funny and interesting book in its own right). I have also had a life-long interest in true crime books, so when I found out about "Death's Acre" I ordered it promptly. And I was not disappointed. A previous reviewer expressed some dissatisfaction that the book did not deal solely with the work done at the Body Farm. While it is true that the title of the book is perhaps misleading in this regard, I personally am glad that the book focused as much as it did on the variety of cases that Dr. Bass consulted on throughout his career. I find it more interesting to hear about how forensic anthropology can help bring a murderer to justice than to read clinical data regarding just how many maggots can hatch in a body after 30 minutes in what temperature. This is probably a good time to offer a gentle warning: This is a great book and totally fascinating, but if that last sentence about maggots upset you, you should probably forego buying and reading this book because that is only a mild taste of what you will encounter inside its pages. What happens to a human body after death isn't pretty, and the authors do a great job of describing it clinically and in terms that a lay audience will understand. But you need a pretty strong stomach to deal with it, especially when what is being described is, say, the brutally murdered body of a four-year-old girl. The book also contains a section of photographs, some of which involve decaying bodies (naturally enough given that this is the subject matter of the book), but if you do not particularly want to see pictures of decaying bodies, find another book to read. But I would not want prospective readers to think that this book is gory just for the sake of sensationalism. The authors draw a compelling portrait of the role of forensic science in solving crimes and convicting the perpetrators of the crimes. The tone of the book is always scientific and the attitude toward the victims and research subjects at the Body Farm highly respectful. The writing is also terrific. I think Dr. Blass made an excellent decision when he enlisted Jon Jefferson as co-author, as the writing is more literary and enjoyable than you expect from most mainstream academicians. The only suggestion for improvement I would make is that I wish the authors had included a few more pictures or diagrams of some of the more important diagnostic cues that are relied on in determining gender, age, and race. For example, we are repeatedly told of structural differences in the pelvis and skull that help to determine sex; it would have been helpful to see diagrams illustrating those differences. Bottom line: Terrific book, one that left me half-wishing I had become a forensic anthropologist instead of a psychologist.

Death’s Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson is a book that I would have never picked up from a shelf, but sure am glad that I did. I am not usually the type to pick out books that have skulls on the covers, but I had to read this book for a class I am currently taking. The book Death’s Acre is an informative book that gets into some details about forensic anthropology and the Body Farm that Dr. Bill Bass revolutionized. This book goes into some details about how to examine dead bodies through bones, meanwhile giving a very vivid description of events that he encountered. The book itself is written in first person, giving the reader a feeling of excitement as well as thrill for what Bass experienced first-hand. I have learned many new things from just picking up this book and reading, like how tied certain things can be to each other to the little tiny details of examining a body. This is a book that I probably would not read again just because I am not a person that is into bones like that, but I can most definitely say that I did not walk away from this book not learning anything. The author goes to talk about successes and also some struggles about bones and how sometimes finding out about someone’s life and death with just bones can be difficult. There can be things happening to the bones before death, causing death, and even after death when the body is in the ground. I learned from this book that bones are not just things that keep our body upright and moving from place to place on a daily basis. There is so much more to them than I have known. Just from properly examining a body, one can learn a lot from a person-- from their age, height, gender, bone injuries, and even what kind of job they possibly have had during their life. I am not much of a non-fiction book reader. I thought that reading this book for a class would be such a dread, but I honestly have changed my opinion on it. Dr. Bass made this book an easy read, with the dialogue and just the flow of the syntax not being too overly-complicated as other informative books. It almost felt like Dr. Bass was just sitting down next to me and telling me stories about his experiences and this Body Farm and how it grew to be what it is now. I can honestly say that I would recommend this to people that are going into the medical field. I understand that this book doesn’t go into full detail about certain medical things but it puts into perspective that bones are not just “things” and one can find a whole story behind someone’s bone remains. There is a lot of meaning behind each skeleton. I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book and to learn many things from it. This book was not an ordinary book about bones, but a very fascinating and eye-opening experience.

If you're looking for CSI miracles this isn't the book for you. This book deals in the rotting, stinking maggot ridden remains of what once was a human being. Bass is an expert in the subject and has pioneered, along with his students who he credits with their discoveries. This book concerns the remains beyond the scope of the medical examiner. Corpses that have decomposed beyond the stage of identification by normal methods. Much of this transpires before DNA became a household word and is fascinating in that it stresses physical markers on the skeleton to determine Age, Sex, Stature and race. Positive ID was established by dental records, medical records and injury to the skeleton. Bass was a pioneer in the "Body Farm" a facility that really exists and is used to perform experiments in decomposition under all kinds of situations. This book describes the evolution of Crime Scene Management and is the source of many of the procedures still in use today. Dr. Bass walks through the cases with an ease and respect without too much technical jargon. This is a great book to start with if you have an interest in CSI either personal or professional.

Any investigator, attorney, or judge need to read all of Dr. Bass' books based on his work. I've learned so much and able to relate that to my students. His writing is the usual detailed scientific lingo. He writes for all of us to understand. The Body Farm... what a novel idea back in the day! He was before his time, or maybe at just the right time. :)

This is an amazing and interesting book! It’s about hundreds of murders, people, education and most of all, science. I was fascinated by it. I’ve read or tried to read all of the novels written by Dr Bass and I recognize many of the experiences in this book as parts of those novels. I’ve also read all of Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels and I see some of her thoughts in here too. I’m a dedicated mystery reader, but clearly I also like nonfiction, as well. This has been one of the best books I’ve ever read!

Good book

Again a book that I read years ago and had loaned it to someone who never returned it. Such a fascinating subject on how the science of pathology and all the research that these doctors do so that it can help police in their investigations on crimes committed either by guns , knives, fires etc... again a great read for someone interested in that subject. I also found it quite revealing that a young researcher on cuts made by saws was able to help to tell what saw was used to cut up the bodies of two young girls thus helping to convict notorious Canadian killer Paul Bernado who to this day is and will be incarcerated for life.

Comment la victime est-elle morte? Depuis combien de temps? Bill Bass a voulu répondre à cette question en dépassant les contraintes imposées par la bienscéance ou la peur de la mort. La science à l'état pur.

A great read would recommend this book if you are into true crime and the hard work done by forensics.

Arrived early - have read part of this book before and can not wait to read it all

What an incredible read. Could not put it down till I finnished it, and I am not a reader at all- Just interested in the subject.