All That Remains

A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes

By: Sue Black

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

For fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality.

Dame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book, which is part primer on the basics of identifying human remains, part frank memoir of a woman whose first paying job as a schoolgirl was to apprentice in a butcher shop, and part no-nonsense but deeply humane introduction to the reality of death in our lives. It is a treat for CSI junkies, murder mystery and thriller fans, and anyone seeking a clear-eyed guide to a subject that touches us all.

Cutting through hype, romanticism, and cliché, she recounts her first dissection; her own first acquaintance with a loved one’s death; the mortal remains in her lab and at burial sites, as well as scenes of violence, murder, and criminal dismemberment; and about investigating mass fatalities due to war, accident, or natural disaster, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. She uses key cases to reveal how forensic science has developed and what her work has taught her about human nature.

Acclaimed by bestselling crime writers and fellow scientists alike, All That Remains is neither sad nor macabre. While Professor Black tells of tragedy, she also infuses her stories with a wicked sense of humor and much common sense.

©2018 Professor Dame Sue Black (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

I wanted a science book about forensics. I got a mostly-memoir instead.

I’m disappointed because I expected to read about forensic sciences, not an author waxing poetic about her thoughts, beliefs, and life experiences. This has too much feels and associated filler, because IMHO, it’s an autobiography/memoir w free-floating blather about meditation and/or various philosophical ramblings. It took me a long time to finish this book.

I usually enjoy Audiobook versions, but unfortunately the Audible version is no better than Kindle. In many ways, it’s worse, because blathering is more annoying when skillfully narrated.

When reading this review, please keep in mind that I was expecting to read about forensic sciences, and also, I’m amongst the minority of reviewers.

Misleading description

I'm over two hours in and find this book to be much more of a personal history and self-analysis about facing her first cadaver and dealing with the death of her relatives than it is about science or crime solving. I was in it for the science and crime solving, so it falls flat. I find myself tuning in and out and not pausing it when I leave the room.

Too much sap ...

This book had some interesting forensic information, but I purchased it anticipating a little bit more science. There was a lot of sappy reminiscences about her family and her family members that had died, and she went on about family that were alive, and frankly I wasn't looking for a book with a bunch of nostalgia.

Scottish narrator needed

This was a fantastically interesting book and the woman who narrated did a fine job. However, this is the story of a Scottish woman’s experiences and should not have been narrated by an American woman. All the little linguistic quirks and expressions sounded SO weird!

Rigor Mortis

I could never find the 'hook' that would make me continue listening to its conclusion. I had quite different expectations than this book delivers. It is much more personal than scientific. Perhaps I wanted more existentialism or philosophy on the subjects of mortality and death. Whatever the reason, I bailed out less than two hours into it.

Ms. Dawe shouldn't try to be flippant or funny. It just seemed contrived.

Bad narration

To be fair, the subject matter was great, but I couldn’t get over the pseudo-robotic voice.

A fascinating look at forensics and death

4 stars - It was really good

Trigger Warnings: Graphic depictions of death and dissection. Discussions of hate crimes, murder, death of a family members and parents, grief, guilt, dementia, physician-assisted suicide, suicide, terrorist attacks, genocide, death of children, musophobia (fear of rodents), PTSD, pedophilia, child abuse

Sue Black is a professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology in the UK and confronts death every day. This book discusses the many different faces of death she has come to know and how it has influenced her views on death and dying.

This was another fascinating book by Sue Black. This book discusses her forensic anthropology work on modern cases, mass fatalities due to war and natural disasters, and ancient remains. Interwoven with these cases is reflection on her personal life and the deaths within it, like her beloved uncle and her parents deaths.

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.

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.

Overall, I highly recommend this book if you are interested in forensics or death positive books. I also suggest picking up her other book, Written in Bone, if you are looking for just forensics and true crime nonfiction.

One tiny criticism

This was a MOST fascinating book. I am very much looking forward to her next. My only criticism (and it’s not specifically about the narrator), is that I wish the narrator had a Scottish accent. The reader was perfectly fine, but I think that would have added something entirely different.
Highly recommended.

The most delightful book I have read yet on death.

I never thought I would be laughing about death, but this book achieved that. Maybe laughter will keep me alive longer. The information in this book is informative and so very interesting. It is presented in a delightful and straightforward way. I especially loved the innovative way she got the money for the renovations she needed. If I were a famous writer of murder mysteries, I would not mind having a morgue named after me.

loved it

working in the medical field, I understand and appreciate her macabre sense of humor. This book is also enlightening and thought provoking.

Frustrated

I really enjoyed this book except for 1 factor. The narration! I didn’t know much about Sue Black & assumed she was American until it was clear fm the text that she is British!!!
So why is the narration in an American accent?!?!?
At the very least it should b a ‘Standard’ English if not a Northern accent, at least close to the Author’s own. This would not be hard to research. A quick phone call to Mrs Black would be enough to ascertain which narrator to hire!

The narration itself was fine but constantly distracting as not authentic to the context of the book.
If it were fiction, I suspect more effort would be made to ‘set the scene’.

So this book is best read, not heard on Audible. Then the reader will naturally build a more accurate ‘image’ of Mrs Black.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on the author’s life/death choices & her discussion of her decisions for meeting death. Refreshing!

Audible: please re-record this properly!!!!!

Are there no voice artists in Scotland?

This is a well written, honest and heart wrenching account by one of Scotland's great natural scientists. But the authenticity is lost in the performance of the audiobook which is read by an American.

In the end I was sorry I bought the audiobook rather than the Kindle or paperback.

If you are looking for technical descriptions of forensic activities or case studies of criminal exploits this is not the book for you. It is a very personal account of the intersection of the author's personal and professional lives with some 19th century naturalist style musings thrown in for good measure.

An excellent book, inappropriately produced as an audiobook.

Interesting Book

Good book let down by the narration. It is obvious that the author and indeed the story is Scottish so it lost some credibility and enjoyment that the narrator has a North American accent!

Not narrated by the author. Buy the other version.

Quite annoyed to discover that there are two versions of this book on audible. The other version is narrated by Sue Black. This version is narrated by an American who has not quite mastered scots dialect. I did expect the author narrating and am very disappointed.

Scottish author, American narrator

Book was enjoyable and interesting to listen to but the awful accent of the American narrator was just too much for me I’m afraid.

for those who would rather know

loved it
really interesting and varied
wish I'd met Uncle Willy he and the older guy who donated his body to medical science were proper characters. Plain speaking no nonsense and yet sensible and reassuring

disappointed

The main issue I have with this book is the author makes a lot of references to being Scottish and stories from Scotland, and its then read by an American. I feel it takes away from the story.

NOT NARRATED BY THE AUTHOR

DOUBLE CHECK. This version came up first which isn’t great for UK audiences who have no trouble with the Scots accent and would like to hear the author reading her work.