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Silent Witnesses
- Author
- Nigel McCrery
- Narrator
- William Gaminara
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 29 August 2013
- Run Time
- 7 hours 29 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A crime scene. A murder. A mystery.
The most important person on the scene? The forensic scientist. And yet the intricate details of their work remains a mystery to most of us.
Silent Witnesses looks at the history of forensic science over the last two centuries, during which time a combination of remarkable intuition, painstaking observation and leaps in scientific knowledge have developed this fascinating branch of detection. Throwing open the casebook, it introduces us to such luminaries as 'The Wizard of Berkeley' Edward Heinrich, who is credited with having solved over 2000 crimes, and Alphonse Bertillon, the French scientist whose guiding principle 'no two individuals share the same characteristics' became the core of identification. Along the way, it takes us to India and Australia, Columbia and China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. And it proves that, in order to solve ever more complicated cases, science must always stay one step ahead of the killer.
Critics Review
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It is a fascinating story, and makes for a thoroughly good read.
Guardian
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A convincing and readable history of a science defined by the simple maxim: 'Every contact leaves a trace.'
The Times
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A real-life whodunnit.
Daily Mail
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A truly gripping story.
Big Issue in the North
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Nigel McCrery
- Narrator
- William Gaminara
- Duration
- 7 hours 29 minutes
- Release Date
- 29 August 2013
- ISBN
- 9781473500709
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- True crime, Social and cultural history, Pathology, History of science
Synopsis
A crime scene. A murder. A mystery.The most important person on the scene? The forensic scientist. And yet the intricate details of their work remains a mystery to most of us. Silent Witnesses looks at the history of forensic science over the last two centuries, during which time a combination of remarkable intuition, painstaking observation and leaps in scientific knowledge have developed this fascinating branch of detection. Throwing open the casebook, it introduces us to such luminaries as 'The Wizard of Berkeley' Edward Heinrich, who is credited with having solved over 2000 crimes, and Alphonse Bertillon, the French scientist whose guiding principle 'no two individuals share the same characteristics' became the core of identification. Along the way, it takes us to India and Australia, Columbia and China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. And it proves that, in order to solve ever more complicated cases, science must always stay one step ahead of the killer.
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