Science Detectives: How Scientists Solved Six Real-Life Mysteries

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Following on the popularity of forensics television series, the editors
of Yes magazine have created a collection of mysteries solved through
the science. Typhoid Mary, vanishing vultures in India, Otzi the ice
man, diamonds in the Northwest Territories, the discovery of DNA, and
the crash of Swissair Flight 111 all come under the microscope in this
book.

The format varies in style and presentation. The prose is easy to read,
sometimes funny, and will definitely hold the reader’s attention. For
example, “The Case of the Contaminated Cook” is written like a
mystery and, in spite of the fact that the title gives away the answer,
it is an engaging whodunit. The rest of the stories are more like
investigative documentaries, telling us which techniques were used to
reveal which facts. There is no suspense. Occasionally, there is no
explanation of the investigative methods. In “On the Viking Trail”
we’re told that Helge Ingstad “followed a hunch and an Icelandic
map” and then asked local fishermen where to find ruins. If it were
that simple, L’Anse aux Meadows wouldn’t have been a mystery for
hundreds of years.

There are five projects for budding science detectives to do. One
directs them to hang out, inconspicuously, in the school washroom and
make notes on hand-washing behaviour; but there’s something creepy
about sending a child to spy on classmates in the washroom.

Overall, this is an engaging and interesting book, but it could have
been better executed. Recommended with reservations.