A WELCOME ADDITION TO THE LITERATURE OF FORENSIC PATHOLOGY   ...we would just like to say that the book is a welcome addition to the long list of books on forensic pathology, especially for the audience for which it specially caters too, as for them, it is probably the best book of forensic pathology...

Rating : 10/10

 Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists, 1^st Edition, by Joseph Prahlow. Hardcover, 9.3 x 6.4” x 1.5".
Humana Press, (An imprint of Springer Science + Business Media, LLC), 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Publication Date March 3, 2010. 615 pages, ISBN-10: 1588299759; ISBN-13: 978-1588299758. Price $199.00.

 Visit the Official site of this book by clicking here

 Buy from Amazon by clicking here.

Click cover to buy from amazon

Another year, another new book of forensic pathology. With the market being already loaded with books on forensic pathology, why would I buy a new one? What new I expect to get from this book which is not present in the ones I already have? The answer to all such questions lie in my profession. If I am a forensic pathologist, I may probably be having enough books and other stuff to say that I don’t need this book. But if I am involved with crime investigation in any other way, like a police, or attorney or judge or any other profession that deals with crime and its investigation, I MUST have this book in my library and must go through it thoroughly. This difference is due to the way the book has been conceptualised and presented. As is mentioned in the Foreword, the book is specifically meant for the people who interact with forensic pathologists on a regular or not so regular basis. Therefore, Dr. Prahlow has tried to keep the language and information provided in the book to the bare minimum so that a non pathologist gets only that many details that are required by him. And it must be said that he has succeeded in his endeavour.

Coming on to the book, as is mentioned earlier, the book starts in a very basic manner, describing the basics of the curriculum of medical school and the basics of pathology. Though very good for someone who has no idea about the same and wants to know what it is to be in a medical school, we felt that this section could have been pruned a little, or even omitted altogether, without making much dent in the overall quality of the book, as the intended audience is more likely to be concerned with the forensic medicine and forensic pathology and not the medical or pathology curriculum in the medical school. This could have reduced both the bulk as well as the cost of the book.

...From introduction, the author moves to the basics of pathology and then to the basics of death investigation and a very brief overview of the human anatomy and physiology. This is an important aspect of this book as most books of forensic pathology, with pathologists as the audience, do not provide this information, which is quite natural as the intended audience there have passed the medical school and are already well versed in these disciplines...

From introduction, the author moves to the basics of pathology and then to the basics of death investigation and a very brief overview of the human anatomy and physiology. This is an important aspect of this book as most books of forensic pathology, with pathologists as the audience, do not provide this information, which is quite natural as the intended audience there have passed the medical school and are already well versed in these disciplines. It is here that the present book provides its audience something which they normally not get in other forensic pathology books.

Part II and III of the book deal with specific topics of forensic pathology. Starting with autopsy, the author then goes on to discuss other aspects of forensic pathology, as is the normal practice in most books of this subject. Almost all the topics in the book subsequently have been dealt with adequately with good illustrations using proper photographs. In addition, the description is more in lay terms than medical terms, thereby helping people to understand the topics and sub-topics better. The list of references mentioned at the end of each chapter is good, though not too exhaustive, again showing that it has deliberately been kept to only those that are actually required for the audience.

In the end we would just like to say that the book is a welcome addition to the long list of books on forensic pathology, especially for the audience for which it specially caters too, as for them, it is probably the best book of forensic pathology.

Review by -Puneet Setia and Avneesh Gupta

Dr. Puneet Setia is working as an Assistant Professor in the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Vir Chandra Singh Garhwali Govt. Medical Science & Research Institute. His research interests include psychological aspects of sexual crimes and paraphilias. He is associated with Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology as a writer and book reviewer. He can be contacted at puneetsetia@rediffmail.com

Dr. Avneesh Gupta qualified as a forensic pathologist from India with honors and then completed his residency in forensic pathology in Wayne County, Detroit. He is now working as a Deputy Medical Examiner at Cochise County, Arizona. He has to his credit a number of publications in leading journals around the world. His landmark thesis on "Cranial Cerebral Damage In Fatal Road Traffic Accidents With Special Reference to Circle Of Willis" can be accessed by clicking here. He is associated with Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology as a journal associate, writer and book reviewer. He can be contacted at avneeshgupta2000@yahoo.com. During his spare time, he enjoys meeting friends and traveling.

 Request a PDF file of this review by clicking here. (If your screen resolution can not be increased, or if printing this page is giving you problems like overlapping of graphics and/or tables etc, you can take a proper printout from a pdf file. You will need an Acrobat Reader though.)

 N.B. It is essential to read this journal - and especially this review as it contains several tables and high resolution graphics - under a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200 dpi or more. If the resolution is less than this, you may see broken or overlapping tables/graphics, graphics overlying text or other anomalies. It is strongly advised to switch over to this resolution to read this journal - and especially this review. These pages are viewed best in Netscape Navigator 4.7 and above.

-Anil Aggrawal

[ Major links ]

[ Aims and Objectives ] [ FAQ ] [ Editorial Board ] [ Contributing Partners ] [ Sitemap ]

[ Paper/Thesis submission guidelines ] [ Editorials - Cumulative Index ] [ Discussion ] [ Chat room ] [ Be our sponsor! ]

[ Cumulative index of Book Reviews sorted by | Publishers |  General Interest Books |  Technical Books ] [ Animated Reviews ] [ Featured Reviews ] [ E-books ]

[ Reviews with Quizzes ] [ Links ] [ Submit books/journals/software/multimedia for review ] [ journal CD ] [ History of the Journal ] [ Interviews ] [ Credits ]

[ Cumulative index of  | Theses/dissertations | [ Online Courses ] [ Awards ] [ Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews - Sister Publication ]

[ Cumulative reviews of Software/Multimedia | Books on CD/Audio tapes ] | Calenders  | Models ]  [ contact us ]

[ Undergraduate section | Postgraduate section ] [ Forensic gadgets/toys/other tidbits ]

 Books for review must be submitted at the following address.

 Professor Anil Aggrawal (Editor-in-Chief)
Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
S-299 Greater Kailash-1
New Delhi-110048
India

 This page has been constructed and maintained by Dr. Anil Aggrawal, Professor of Forensic Medicine, at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002. You may want to give me the feedback to make this pages better. Please be kind enough to write your comments in the guestbook maintained above. These comments would help me make these pages better.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL PAPERS APPEARING IN THIS ONLINE JOURNAL ARE COPYRIGHTED BY "ANIL AGGRAWAL'S INTERNET JOURNAL OF FORENSIC MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY" AND MAY NOT BE REPOSTED, REPRINTED OR OTHERWISE USED IN ANY MANNER WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE WEBMASTER

Questions or suggestions ? Please use  ICQ 19727771 or email to dr_anil@hotmail.com

Page Professor Anil Aggrawal via ICQ

home  > Volume 12, Number 1, January - June 2011  > Reviews  > Technical Books  > page 4: Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists, by Joseph Prahlow   (you are here) Navigation ribbon