We keep receiving books for review from various publishers. However some books are of such paramount importance that we at the journal office thought one review may not be able to do justice to that book. One opinion may be slanted, perhaps by the individual tastes and preferences of the reviewer. Reviewers from different continents, nations, even different parts of the same nation may perceive a book differently. Why not send books to two or more different reviewers and get their opinion. We requested several publishers to do that and they obliged.

From Volume 3, Number 1, January - June 2002, we started reviews of certains books of paramount importance as "featured books". The first book to be featured on our journal was Ecotoxicology: The Study of Pollutants in Ecosystems by F. Moriarty (Published by Academic Press). Review of that book, as well as the combined index of reviews of all featured books can be accessed by clicking here. We have so far featured twenty three books including the current one. The response of the readers has been overwhelming. They seem to have liked this new genre, and they want more reviews in this format.

For the popular books section, this time we chose a very interesting book. The book is a marvellous socio-political commentary on the nefarious practices that are followed in the American poultry industry. Why did we chose this book for review in a forensic medicine and toxicology journal? Because the book deals with a kind of forensic investigation into these nefarious activities, albeit in a fictionalized form. There are poisonings, murders and other crimes in the book, making it fit to be reviewed in the popular books section of this journal.

However we at the journal office do understand that a book which attacks such powerful institutions can be controversial, and just one review may not do justice to a book of such great importance. So we at the journal office decided to send it to as many as ten reviewers across five continents. Three of these reviewers - one from Asia, South America and Australasia each - were females. The reviewers were not only requested to send us detailed reviews, but were asked to rate this book on a scale of ten. The following rating scale was provided to the reviewers.

0: Waste of time
1: Of minimal interest
2: Of little interest
3: Of some interest
4: Slightly below average
5: Average
6: Slightly above average
7: Good
8: Very Good
9: Excellent
10: Truly Outstanding

 By and large, our reviewers rated the book above 8. Here is a detailed break-up of our reviewers and the ratings they gave this book.