All That Remains: A Life in Death

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Compelling, brave and extremely accessible.. A must for anyone who thinks about the basics of living and dying. And there are jokes as well. Rachel Joyce For fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, Kathy Reichs, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality. I might be out of step with other reviewers who loved this book, no problem, I have a bookshop, I'm used to my customers not liking my recommendations and me not liking what they read, that is why we have such diversification in book subjects. (Unless the author is chasing money in which case it will be a Twilight situation with a million teenage vampire romances.) 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. 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.

The programme was even more fascinating than I could have imagined and helped me discover more about both the process of identifying human remains and what kind of person it takes to do it. This book expands on much of what was in that interview, as well as adding more details about her life, work, and the cases in which she's been involved. It's a mish-mash of history, science, memoir, police investigations, cold cases, natural disasters, education and invention...not to mention some handy tips for would be murderers er...writers about procedure. For example, dismembering a body in certain ways cases too much leakage, making it harder to move and there really is a best way to remove a human head. And don't forget about the smell if you try to hide body parts in your cupboard or beneath your driveway (yes, she's seen this). Since the bathtub is well sized for a human body, people usually use it to cut up their inconveniently sized dead so Scene of Crime officers start their search there as a matter of course. Apparently it's hard to cut up/saw through a corpse without scratching the bath surface and it's very difficult to clean all the necessary drainage parts. Sadly, she didn't suggest better alternatives but I have these snippets of advice mentally shelved in case I ever need them. Which I won't, obviously.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 Times 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. A model of how to write about the effect of human evil without losing either objectivity or sensitivity ... Heartening and anything but morbid... Leaves you thinking about what kind of human qualities you value, what kinds of people you actually want to be with. Rowan Williams, New Statesman

A model of how to write about the effect of human evil without losing either objectivity or sensitivity ... Heartening and anything but morbid... Leaves you thinking about what kind of human qualities you value, what kinds of people you actually want to be with." (Rowan Williams New Statesman) Reading this book is like watching your favorite crime series only much more down to earth and more realistic. Just as thrilling, because Sue has experienced a fair share of ghastly situations, but shows you the relevance of her work, and why respectful treatment is important.

Charity

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') Briefly - fascinating, powerful and very well written. Without question this will be one of my best books of the year. And what if you want to live, but other people decide you have no value, that you're a "useless feeder" as Hitler termed it. What if your family can't afford the financial burden of caring for you? What if the government decides they can't fit your care into the budget? This is already the case with socialized medicine. Thousands of Canadians can attest to the fact that they are receiving treatment in the U.S. because they didn't qualify for treatment in their own country. Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light. A beautifully written memoir full of reflections on the deaths of strangers and family members. Oliver Thring, Sunday Times

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') Poignant and thoughtprovoking… it is the book’s humanity which will connect with readers. Scottish Daily Mail The part that I found most fascinating about this book was her discussion of mass fatalities due to war and natural disasters. She talks about her experiences in Kosovo identifying remains and of the 2004 tsunami. Sue’s experiences at these violence scenes were very emotional and heartbreaking, but she did her duty and was always respectful to the dead and their families.An engrossing memoir . . . an affecting mix of personal and professional' (Erica Wagner , Financial Times)

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? These experiences with large scale disasters pushed her to advocate for Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) training in the UK. This program is now well established and has helped with disasters around the world. She even helped write the textbook for the DVI course. I love that she is an advocate for her field and is determined to teach future generations what she knows. She really has helped expand the field she is in.

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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.