All That Remains: A Life in Death

Professor Dame Sue Black discusses the subject she grapples with every day - Death - bringing her unique perspective to the multitudinous circumstances in which life is lost. From the painful grieving process after losing a loved one, to violence, murder, criminal dismemberment, missing persons, war (such as Kosovo), natural disasters (such as a tsunami), unidentified bodies, historical remains -- involving investigative agencies, lawyers, justice, criminal sentences, and always sadness and pain, she takes us on a scientific and reflective journey explaining the genetic DNA traits that develop before our birth, and those traits and features we gather in the twists and turns through life, all of which add up to an identity that reveals itself in death. Riveting as the best crime novel, and leavened with humour, this is an enriching and reassuring read and a parallel celebration of life.

About the Author :
Professor Dame Sue Black is one of the world's leading anatomists and forensic anthropologists. Until 2018 she was Director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee. She is now Pro-Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement at Lancaster University. In 1999 she was the lead anthropologist for the British Forensic Team's work in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo. She was one of the first forensic scientists to travel to Thailand following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 to provide assistance in identifying the dead. Sue is a familiar face in the media where documentaries have been filmed about her work and she led the highly successful BBC 2 series - History Cold Case. Sue was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to forensic anthropology. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller All That Remains.

Review :
One might expect [this book] to be a grim read but it absolutely isn’t. I found it invigorating! Black’s utterly gripping account of her life and career as a professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology manages to be surprisingly life-affirming. As she herself says, it is “as much about life as about death”. An engrossing memoir ... an affecting mix of the personal and professional. 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. For someone whose job is identifying corpses, Sue Black is a cheerful soul ... All That Remains feels like every episode of Silent Witness, pre-fictionalized. Except, you know, really good.