Very interesting and entertaining. Its easy to take forensic science for granted since it is now used so routinely; hard to believe that scientific methods didn't exist 100 years ago.

I liked how each chapter was devoted to a different forensic methodology. The author tied the chapters to Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but I didn't think that was necessary. The information would have stood well on its own.

Il periodo alla fine del diciannovesimo secolo è quello in cui nel Vecchio Mondo si era convinti che mancava pochissimo a scoprire tutto. Arthur Conan Doyle aveva una formazione da medico, come il suo alter ego Watson; ma le sue conoscenze sono meglio rappresentate dalle affermazioni di Sherlock Holmes, come si può immaginare. In questo libro l'autrice, esperta di medicina forense, racconta le conquiste della scienza dell'Ottocento attraverso i riferimenti nelle opere dell'investigatore londinese. Quello che si nota nei vari capitoli, dall'uso delle impronte digitali alle autopsie ma anche al modo in cui la polizia deve operare sui luoghi del delitto, mostra come Conan Doyle fosse estremamente attento alle novità che si stavano verificando, e in un certo senso facesse del proselitismo sotto la forma dei racconti investigativi. Ciò detto, pur riconoscendo lo stile leggero del libro fortunatamente mantenuto nell'ottima traduzione, mi pare che il libro abbia un interesse relativamente limitato per tutti coloro che non siano davvero appassionati della materia. La parte finale dei capitoli, una specie di "sapevàtevelo!" con notiziole sugli usi delle varie metodologie dopo la morte di Conan Doyle, era poi a mio parere inutile. Scegliete voi se la materia vi ispira o no.

It's been a bit since I finished this, but I enjoyed it.

As a forensic science major, an ardent Sherlock Holmes fan, and someone with a keen interest in history, I found this book to be an absolute delight! Aside from a history of Victorian/Edwardian forensics and a commentary on Sherlock Holmes, the book presents interesting case studies, examining how they were helped or hindered by the science of their time. Some are even quite humorous. The Science of Sherlock Holmes is well-paced and not bogged down in technical detail-- I had no problem reading it on the beach (where I don't necessarily welcome challenging ideas)-- and organized by topic (such as a chapter on the Padfoot legend and another on fingermarks). I would recommend this to anyone interested in the intersections of history and science.

3,5

The first audio book I've listened to which has really held my attention.

A real good book chronicling interesting criminal activities from so long ago even my grandparents weren't born. It is interesting how "jurisprudence" aka forensic science has evolved through the ages. Although it doesn't exactly explain the forensics of Sherlock's investigations like the title claims, it is still a very very interesting book.
Also you'd be pretty surprised how much people are capable of murders, all through the human timeline!

"Sherlock Holmes may have been fictional," writes E.J. Wagner, "but what we learn from him is very real. He tell us that science provides not simplistic answers but a rigorous method of formulating questions that may lead to answers." The Science of Sherlock Holmes offers a history of forensic science by focusing on 1) what informed Arthur Conan Doyle's portrayal of Holmes and his method, and 2) how Holmes in turn influenced his real-life descendants. It's not a comprehensive history, but rather a thematic study of advances in various areas of forensics - ballistics, footprints, fingerprints, blood analysis, etc. - with in-depth illustrations from some of the most famous (or infamous) watershed cases in the UK and US (including Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden). For my purposes, wanting to get a better handle on how Holmes was informed by and then informed advances in this field, I found it to be an engaging and satisfying read.

Although I know that a lot of material for the Sherlock Holmes books came from Eugene Francois Vidocq, a character I am writing about now (historical biography), E. J. Wagner does a nice job of bringing the case stories alive.

I came home from the library today with a stack of non-fiction to read, and this one happened to catch me eye first. I've read a lot of Holmes-related books this year, so I thought this one would be perfect. I need to mention that I am a rather casual Holmes fan - I like his stories, but I really like the character better, and I am by no means letter-perfect on his adventures in the canon.

I liked the approach of this book. It starts with the premise that Conan Doyle was a dedicated researcher, and that his books would have Holmes as being up to date on all the latest technology. Certainly Holmes has an eclectic approach to science, but he is very much in the forensic specialist mode. However, the book turned out to be a little uneven in the way the real life cases are dealt with, and a little too uncritical of the great detective.

I really liked the chapters where the author compares Holmes approach to some real life cases. The stories of Lizzie Borden, Alfred Dreyfus, and Constance Kent. I also liked reading about the development of blood typing and classifying, footprints, and ballistics. The chapters on the spectral hounds and reports of vampires were not as interesting to me. I finished the book with an appreciation for the ways in which science has come so far in uncovering the truth about a crime compared to the almost random approach of the 1800s. I would recommend this for fans of forensic science or crime fiction.

This book is actually quite fascinating. It's about the rise of forensic science contemporary to Sherlock Holmes' "life" and explanations about what SH used, what was really, what ACD found in real life investigations.

I love how she explains the way of that time, all those little forensic details that seem perfectly normal for us nowadays but were particularly outrageous/audacious for that time. This book, while extremely interesting by itself, is also a great help to better understand the subtleties and extraordinary details of the original Sherlock Holmes stories.

The many anecdotes and case explanations are riveting and she manages to insert the information and explanations in such a way that you don't realise you're learning, as you're too interested in the practical applications depicted from real cases at the same time.

A definitively enthralling read, despite it being a non-fiction book.

Fascinating and well-written!