The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 08, 2017 Snowtulip rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

I have a strong urge to become a forensic pathologist (without the animal testing)!

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Jul 31, 2011 Nancy rated it liked it

Shelves: true-crime, 2011-read, new-york

This is a highly readable account of the establishment of forensic medicine in New York City in the 20s. It's a good blend of science and personalities with a lot of New York City color as well, for those who like that sort of thing and I do.

So why only three stars? Because I caught the author making something up. She said that with the end of Prohibition, churches were able to use sacramental wine in their services once again. Entirely wrong; sacramental wine was explicitly an exception during ...more

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Dec 08, 2016 Andy Plonka rated it liked it

The book gave a good synopsis of how people succumbed to various poisons which at the time they died were not considered fatal. Obviously we learn by our mistakes, but because the book's title implies that people were intentionally killing others using substances which are poisonous to humans, I expected the emphasis to be more on situations in which that was the case. For instance, Marie Curie was not trying to kill people through her work on radioactivity (and, in fact, she died because of her ...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, historical, new-york-city, true-crime, science

Blum lays out a very compelling story here and does a nice job of mixing biography, science, and true-crime reporting to keep things moving. The science angle definitely assumes a relatively low level of technical knowledge, which may be a pro or a con depending on your own science background. My favorite piece is probably Blum's afterword, where she discusses the nature of poison as a murderer's tool and what sets it apart from other homicidal methods - in a few brief pages she gives it a broad ...more

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