Stefan Timmermans

I was disappointed because it only detailed ONE autopsy, and not one single picture. Though well-researched and well-written, it was not what I expected. My studies included watching autopsies at the County Coroner's of the Sheriff's dept. and I can definitely agree on a certain comment Mr. Timmermans made: page 54, " . . . forensic pathologists . . . anticpate the scientific puzzle to be solved . . . frustration comes from a lack of significant findings."

This is an academic ethnography of medical examiners, looking into how they interpret evidence, how they construct their authority, and the challenges they face as medicine and the legal system change. It's written about as compellingly as the usual ethnography, which means I only fell asleep reading it twice. But there are some interesting tidbits in here for people with practice slogging through academic prose.

deadly dull