Brian InnesBesprekingen

Criminal Profiling by Brian Innes and Lucy Doncaster is an excellent overview of the history and current state of criminal profiling.

This book is accessible for any reader with an interest in the topic yet does not sacrifice a decent amount of detail. Certainly nowhere near the level of textbooks I've used, which is a good quality since those are designed to inform and shape future practitioners while most readers simply want the information.

The liberal use of case studies helps to illustrate both where profiling has fallen short as well as the many ways it has been shown to be effective. Through the use of a lot of pictures and sidebars, the layout helps, I think, to keep a reader engaged and actively reading.

Highly recommended for those with an interest in the field, whether because of an interest in true crime stories or an interest in human psychology. While not an extensive bibliography it is sufficient to encourage further reading and research for those so inclined.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.½

This updated edition of Fakes, Scams & Forgeries, by Brian Innes and Chris McNab, is both an attractive and informative volume that will please those wanting a nice trip through the history of such dishonesty.

This is a nice mix of information about the commission and detection of these crimes as well as some major cases of each. Among the cases in this new edition are Anna Sorokin and Elizabeth Holmes. So this is really up-to-date.

No doubt how much is new to a reader will depend on what their interests are. I found that even the cases and information with which I was familiar was presented in a way that held my interest and offered me new insight. The new stuff was, well, new to me so I found it very interesting. I think any reader, whether someone with a deep interest or someone who just wants to know a little about these kinds of crimes, will enjoy this volume.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Bodies of Evidence: How Forensic Science Solves Crimes by Brian Innes and Lucy Doncaster is a well-illustrated overview of the topic. The explanations go just below surface level without becoming a really detailed science book. I rounded this one up because I think they found just the right mix of interesting explanation, good example cases, and excellent illustrations.

In addition to a couple of courses (MOOCs) and plenty of the popular books on forensics, I've also read through a couple of textbooks (they often went over my head) so part of my interest here was in finding out where this book fell in that spectrum. While thankfully not into the realm of a textbook it does offer enough detail to give some of the science behind each technique. By combining that with short case studies we see how the science is applied in real world situations. What I came away with is the opinion that this makes an excellent single, or at least initial, source for most nonexperts. If you just want one book in your library on the topic for when you want to better understand something, this would make an excellent volume.

The main thing I think would make this better would be a short bibliography, or very short ones at the end of each chapter. In reading the book you get plenty of names and keywords to search for yourself, but still. I don't think an extensive one would have been necessary, maybe a couple major texts for each technique or method plus a few other good overall forensic texts.

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in forensics, whether through television and movies, novels, true crime, or even as a potential career choice. As either an overview for the casual reader or a jumping off point for more research, this is a handy volume to have in your library. If you're like me this would also make a good coffee table (or end table) book, and definitely one to leave out at your next book group meeting if you're reading anything with crime in it.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.½

This was an informative read. I learned a lot of things about forensic examinations. The book covered a wide variety of subjects. All were presented in a clear, easily read manner, which is a treat, because it would be so easy to really overwhelm someone with the science. Each section was interspersed with actual case histories pertaining to the chapter subject. These were very interesting.
All in all, if you are a crime buff who loves shows like CSI, this would be a great read for you.

SUMMARY: A book that talks about many sea creatures people thought and still think today is real. Most famous is the Loch Ness Monster suppoosably located in Scotland highlands. A monster named Champ in the lake Champlin here is North America

MY REACTION: Im never going to lake champlin again. I use to go fishing and swimming there when I was younger. I wanted to go back for old time sake but nope not anymore.

CLASSROOM EXTENSIONS: 1. Have the students draw a monster they think is real and lives in the water
2. Have the students write a short story about their monster they made up.
3. Share with the class their story and their monster drawings.

Alchemy, the Ancient Science focuses on the colorful, genuine thinkers and contributors to alchemy—both ancient and modern. Published in 1976, this work introduces alchemy to novice readers through succinct chapters, though unfortunately neglects establishing and outlining the subject’s foundational concepts, terminologies, and symbolism sufficiently. What saves this book, however, are the large number of alchemical prints and images that saturate the pages, gathered from a wide range of alchemical texts and artwork. Beautifully reproduced in this volume, novice and masters of alchemy alike will appreciate the images rich in metaphor and imagination. Others may also find the rare chapter dedicated to Eastern alchemy to be a rich resource for dabblers of Tantra and Taoism, which the book identifies as branches of sexual alchemy.

Read for an assignment.

Remind me not to read books like this just before I go to bed. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night after having nightmares about murderers!
Some of the crimes made for very uncomfortable reading as there is quite a lot of grisly details. But I think it was the photos in this book that creeped me out the most, there is a photo of each serial killer, sometimes ordinary looking family snapshots. Just makes you realise how good some criminals are at acting 'normal'.

This was a good introductory book about serial killers. It contains details of their crimes and victims, how they were caught and what their punishment was. I already knew a lot of the facts about the most famous serial killers, having read books about them before, but this book also contains some less well-known murderers. After reading this there are now a few more murderers that I'd like to read more about.

One thing about this book that really annoyed me was that there were grey boxes scattered on the pages containing extra information, which wouldn't normally bother me, but they were always in really odd places and I found myself having to flick pages backwards and forwards to read things in a sensible order.

This book is a good starting point for learning about serial killers, but there are plenty of other books out there with more in-depth information.

Brian Innes' Fakes & Forgeries (Reader's Digest, 2005) is a very basic introduction to the subject, taking a wide-angle view which encompasses everything from counterfeit money to identity theft to forged antiquities, art, and books. Unfortunately that breadth means that nothing gets covered in any great depth, and Innes' text is strangely disjointed: the narrative bounces around rather rapidly, and characters/topics blip in and out, sometimes without any introduction whatever. Occasionally the only mention of a given topic was in a picture caption, which also seemed slightly bizarre.

The best use of this book might be as an entry point into more research on a given area of the subject, although without any source notes, even that might be a stretch. Perhaps for the very casual reader, this would be a sufficient overview, but overall, I think there are better books out there.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-review-fakes-forgeries.html

This introduction to Forensic Science covers the basic aspects of the field- such as trace evidence, fingerprint and blood analysis, etc. The development of the science is also discussed, as well as the most recent advances in the field. Examples of specific cases in which Forensic Science has led to an arrest and conviction for a crime are also described. A number of large photos help convey the information visually.
However, the dense text and high level vocabulary will make this title more suitable for high school library collections. It’s likely that younger students will not be willing to wade though the large amount of detailed text to investigate this field, except for those that are especially interested in it.

Not just a list of horrid crimes, but sidebar examinations of theories, profiling, and various other topics of interest that shed a little brighter light on these dark deeds and dark people.

Fairly complete overview of forensics. Photos & photomicographs are stunning. Written for the lay person to give a basic understanding of the techniques and theories used in forensics. It accomplishes its objective.½

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