UBC: Thomas, Hear No Evil

Hear No Evil: Politics, Science, and the Forensic Evidence in th by Donald Byron Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Oh, I don't even know.

This is a giant book of JFK forensics, and I found it fascinating, but I also found it impossible to judge how much I should believe. (I'm very leery of getting into the assassination research because it's such a slavering mess of wargs and goblins.) Thomas does believe there was a conspiracy; he does believe there was a shooter on the grassy knoll. I found him very convincing, but I'm pretty easy that way. Until I've read enough to find my feet, I tend to believe whoever I've most recently read.

So YMMV.

Thomas DOES do a good job of laying out what the evidence actually is (and noting the gaps where the evidence used to be, of which there are many). He resolutely does not speculate about who might have been backing the conspiracy. And he supports his theory with a lengthy discussion of the acoustical analysis of the open dictabelt (I feel like I should be capitalizing everything: The Grassy Knoll, The Open Dictabelt, The Plaid Shirt, etc.). He's also prone to sarcasm, which I admit I like.

So if you're interested in the assassination, or if you just like reading about forensics, this is a great book. But I don't know how to judge it in relationship to its subject. I don't know how much to tell you to believe.



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