All That Remains: A Life in Death

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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. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Sue Black is a formidable woman with a singular personality, set of skills and knowledge to do everyday what would terrify most people. The other aspect of her book that I vehemently disagreed with and, in my opinion, had no place in such a book was her mini-dissertation on why she believes people should be able to decide their own life spans. It took time, but as she became more skillful, her reputation began to grow and she began to be involved in more prestigious and important investigations, such as in gathering evidence of war crimes through forensic examinations of mass graves in war zones.

Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall). There is something incredibly disarming about the way the author describes her fascination as well as her deep respect for the many bodies she has had to dissect, try and make sense of to reconstruct as best she could who the person was and what their life was like. For those, like me, who are fascinated by Forensic Anthropology and Medicine, this is an intriguing book to experience.It was Black’s unenviable task to retrieve body parts and personal effects that could be used to identify the victims, as well as to collect bullets and casings in the hope of identifying the perpetrators of this appalling war crime. Favorite line: “Perhaps forensic anthropologists are the sin-eaters of our day, addressing the unpleasant and unimaginable so that others don’t have to. My favorite chapter was on Kosovo; elsewhere I found the mixture of science and memoir slightly off, and the voice never fully drew me in.

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. Unless the author is chasing money in which case it will be a Twilight situation with a million teenage vampire romances. A book based on the matter of death, probably shouldn't excite and intrigue a being as much as it has, but that day, earlier this year, when I bought this book in Waterstones, I had my Mum with me at the time, and although we have similar tastes, she has been known to raise that right eyebrow at some of mine. I happened to listen to the section where author and Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology, Sue Black, narrates her first time cutting up a cadaver at the same moment as I was slicing up a steak for my very spoilt doggo's dinner. 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.She uses chilling terms like when someone "no longer has value" "and "doesn't want to be a burden" or really just doesn't want to live anymore. She begins the book with her medical training in university, what happens in a dissecting lab and how she felt standing before her first body. Some parts of the book are discussed with relative humour and she has a knack for particularly apt descriptions of body parts and fluids that you might not want to read around dinner time. Looking back on this immensely challenging but vitally important work, Black says it was “an experience I would not trade for the world”.

Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. Sue is a familiar face in the media, where documentaries have been filmed about her work, and she led the highly successful BBC 2 series History Cold Case. But as an expert witness from the final frontier, Sue Black is the wisest, most reassuring, most compelling of guides.

The accounts of her parents' deaths can be skipped over completely with no loss, so I wonder why they're given so many pages in the first place. She also informed a woman who said that she’d donate her body to a body farm that it would be disrespectful, and refused to consider that the person was quite happy to use her body in that way.

Susan Margaret Black, Baroness Black of Strome, DBE, FBA, FRSE, FRAI, FRSB (née Gunn; born 7 May 1961) is a Scottish forensic anthropologist, anatomist and academic. It's a mish-mash of history, science, memoir, police investigations, cold cases, natural disasters, education and invention. Both for those who suffered through it and those like Professor Black, who had to give these unidentified bodies their identities back and find the evidence necessary to prosecute the offenders.

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.