All That Remains: A Life in Death

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Briefly - fascinating, powerful and very well written. Without question this will be one of my best books of the year.

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. 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. Shouldn't they have the right to decide to end their life legally and safely? Hmmm...legal and safe...where have we heard those terms before? Having read 8 chapters, the majority of it is a glorified memoir of her work and serves solely to inflate her ego. It’s certainly not what it says on the tin. She often finds herself dealing with the most macabre cases of murder. But the no-nonsense Scot is an upbeat character with a dry sense of humour, clearly identifiable in her memoir. Hannah Stephenson, Daily RecordA bunch of notes on the author's personal life, private meetings with death, career and anthropology. A lot of interesting side stories, personal take on things we all don't really know how to take.

In All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her. I’m (yet again) finding it difficult to organise my thoughts surrounding this book. It’s an intense, sometimes clinical, portrayal of death in a very pragmatic and scientific way. It’s equal parts cold and without feeling in its descriptions of death, yet also simultaneously deeply emotive and moving. I found that at times I had to step away from it, because although fascinating, I found myself becoming too attached to the cases. I’m also deeply in awe of the author’s knowledge, enthusiasm and respect for the subject she teaches. One might expect [this book] to be a grim read but it absolutely isn't. I found it invigorating!' (Andrew Marr, BBC Radio 4 'Start the Week') I'm not going to lie, but this book made my spine tingle, profusely. 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 truly loved all the different parts of the telling of her stories, her opining, what she knows, what she doesn’t know, frustrations, joys, and her passion for the work, her deeply felt calling for it and satisfaction at the opportunities and obligations it has provided her. I like the way she thinks, love her humor and am amazed at her tolerance for incredibly trying situations. Unpleasantness I would run from. Horrors that would slay my every ability to respond at all, and she breathes deeply and reaches for her gloves. I could no more think of this kind of work than I could read it straight through. There were times I had to stop and do something else.All That Remains provides a fascinating look at death - its causes, our attitudes toward it, the forensic scientist's way of analyzing it. A unique and thoroughly engaging book. Kathy Reichs, author of TWO NIGHTS and the Temperance Brennan series I suppose I was less taken with the small sections near the beginning of the book that seemed to be more like a familial memoir or history rather than delivering facts and experiences. Although there was always a reason for them, such as a device to further expand the readers understanding of various biological processes etc., I just wasn’t that taken with them in comparison to the later chapters. Mike Holtzclaw: Father-daughter authors hope their new book will help solve the murders, Daily Press

She includes a number of cold cases. Murders that have never been solved. I found this rather unsatisfying. I know her motive was to hopefully shed light on these murders and hopefully bring justice to the murderers and give the victims' families a sense of closure, but they leave the reader hanging, like an unresolved chord at the end of a symphony. Reading memoirs by people I have never heard of before is something I very much enjoy. The thought that each and every human being on this planet is leading their own life which is unique and distinct from all others is an unfathomable idea and yet so fascinating. This unsentim­ental exploration has at its heart the conviction that we should not fear death but accept it Do we expect a book about death to be sad? Macabre? Sue's book is neither. There is tragedy, but there is also humour in stories as gripping as the best crime novel. Ideal reading if you're a cheerful soul who likes to think about death. And think how it'll brighten your conversation on holiday. The TimesA killer is stalking young couples, and the remains of 8 youngsters have been found dead over a couple of years. [1] The last two thirds make for a solid, but not outstanding, addition to a shelf about death. Just know that you can gloss over the aforementioned sections and you won't miss a thing. Walid Khalidi was born in Jerusalem, he was educated at the University of London and Oxford University. He taught at Oxford, the American University of Beirut, and Harvard. Khalidi is a cofounder of the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS, Beirut), of which he was general secretary until recently. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a cofounder of the Royal Scientific Society, Amman. He currently serves as President of the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPSUS, Washington, DC).