The Poisoner's Handbook
Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
قتل و تولد پزشکی قانونی در عصر جاز نیویورک
گزارش تخلف
فرمت کتاب
audiobook
تاریخ انتشار
2010
Lexile Score
1190
Reading Level
9-12
نویسنده
Coleen Marloناشر
Tantor Media, Inc.شابک
9781400185504
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum's fascinating study of the birth of forensic medicine is a finalist for the Audie Award in nonfiction, and narrator Coleen Marlo is one excellent reason. Marlo's voice is pleasant; her delivery, cool and compelling. Blum introduces Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler, the dedicated men who developed techniques for tracing poisons in human tissue. She chronicles specific poisons and specific cases from nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century poisonings, including chloroform, arsenic, and cyanide experiments; hard-to-listen-to graphic descriptions of grisly animal testing; and accounts of serial poisoners. She constructs a convincing indictment against societal ignorance, corporate corruption, and political cronyism. Blum's spirited prose and well-researched science and Marlo's intelligent performance make this nonfiction production seem like a series of powerful short stories. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Starred review from December 14, 2009
Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Blum (Ghost Hunters
) makes chemistry come alive in her enthralling account of two forensic pioneers in early 20th-century New York. Blum follows the often unglamorous but monumentally important careers of Dr. Charles Norris, Manhattan’s first trained chief medical examiner, and Alexander Gettler, its first toxicologist. Moving chronologically from Norris’s appointment in 1918 through his death in 1936, Blum cleverly divides her narrative by poison, providing not only a puzzling case for each noxious substance but the ingenious methods devised by the medical examiner’s office to detect them. Before the advent of forensic toxicology, which made it possible for the first time to identify poisons in corpses, Gettler learned the telltale signs of everything from cyanide (it leaves a corrosive trail in the digestive system) to the bright pink flush that signals carbon monoxide poisoning. In a particularly illuminating section, Blum examines the dangers of bootleg liquor (commonly known as wood, or methyl, alcohol) produced during Prohibition. With the pacing and rich characterization of a first-rate suspense novelist, Blum makes science accessible and fascinating.
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