Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
by Deborah Blum
Blum does an excellent job introducing the coming of age of forensic medicine by using poisoning as a template. She aptly describes Charles Norris (chief medical examiner) and Alexander Gettler (toxicologist) mission to legitimize forensic medicine with criminal poison cases dealing with ten different poisons.
I enjoyed the combination of science with history and learned much about the evolution of science as a way to prove guilt or innocence. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes that type of journey
Blum does an excellent job introducing the coming of age of forensic medicine by using poisoning as a template. She aptly describes Charles Norris (chief medical examiner) and Alexander Gettler (toxicologist) mission to legitimize forensic medicine with criminal poison cases dealing with ten different poisons.
I enjoyed the combination of science with history and learned much about the evolution of science as a way to prove guilt or innocence. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes that type of journey
