Books

Forensic Human Identification An Introduction
by Sue Black and Tim Thompson
CRC Press

Identity theft, criminal investigations of the dead or missing, mass disasters both by natural causes and by criminal intent - with this as our day to day reality, the establishment and verification of human identity has never been more important or more prominent in our society.

This book provides detailed information to newcomers and experts on the wide range of identification techniques in international practice. The book introduces the variety of biological indicators used in human identification, illustrates the basic principles of each discipline and examines DNA and fingerprints as well as numerous peripheral techniques.

It explains how a multitude of factors are taken into consideration to establish a probable confirmation and discusses the difference between positive and probable identification and the use of exclusion to confirm identity. High profile case studies show the context and application of human identification techniques while a Developmental Osteology wall chart assists in determining age at death.

Professor Sue Black and Dr Tim Thompson are researchers in anatomy and forensic anthropology at the University of Dundee.

Religion and society in Twentieth Century Britain
By Callum G Brown
Longman Pearson

During the twentieth century, Britain turned from a deeply religious culture into one of the most secularised nations. The change was sudden, triggered by the cultural revolutions of young people and women in the 1960s. But in the 1980s and 1990s, the peaceful mellowing of religion on the wane was joined by the appearance of religious militancy amongst the remaining faithful. From being a mostly harmless part of British culture, religion developed a new potential for outlandishness, extremism and even danger.

This book provides the first comprehensive account of religion in British society and culture between 1900 and 2000. With a focus on the themes of faith cultures, secularisation, religious militancy and the spiritual revolution of the New Age, Religion and Society in Twentieth Century Britain uses people's own experiences and the stories of the churches to display the diversity and richness of British religion. With examples from across the UK and across the religious traditions, this is the first coherent history of the religious experience of the British people during the last century.

Callum G. Brown is Professor of Religious and Cultural History at the University of Dundee. His previous books include The Death of Christian Britain (2001) and Postmodernism for Historians (Longman, 2004).

Post Continental Philosophy: An Outline
By John Mullarkey
Continuum International

Post-Continental Philosophy outlines the shift in Continental thought over the last 20 years through the work of Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, Michel Henry and François Laruelle. Though they follow seemingly different methodologies and agendas, each insists on the need for a return to the category of immanence if philosophy is to have any future.

They take the immanent categories of biology, mathematics, affectivity and axiomatic science as focal points for a renewal of thought. However, each of these new philosophies of immanence still regards what the other is doing as transcendent representation, raising the question of what this return to immanence really means.

By teasing out their internal differences, Mullarky discovers the only thing that can be said of immanence without falling back into transcendent representation seems not to be a saying at all but a 'showing', a depiction through lines. Because each of these philosophies also places a special value on the diagram, the common ground of immanence is that occupied by the philosophical diagram rather than the word.

Dr John Mullarky is a Philosophy lecturer in the School of Humanities.

Microorganisms in Earth Systems - Advances in Geomicrobiology
By G M Gadd, K Semple and H Lappin-Scott
Cambridge University Press

Fungi in Biogeochemical Cycles
By G M Gadd
Cambridge University Press

For several years, scientists have been interested in large-scale environmental processes and phenomena such as soil formation, global warming and global elemental cycling, which are of increasing topical significance and concern.

Until recently, the role and impact of microorganisms on these 'global' environmental processes has been largely ignored or, at best, underestimated. We now realise that important environmental transformations are catalysed, mediated and influenced by microorganisms and such knowledge is having an increasing influence on disciplines other than microbiology, such as geology and mineralogy. As a result, 'geomicrobiology' is probably now the most rapidly growing area of microbiology.

Professor Geoff Gadd has carried out pioneering research in this area with bacteria and fungi over many years, not only with the aim of understanding microbial roles in metal and mineral transformations and element cycling, but also how these processes can be harnessed and used for the treatment of pollution. Some current research is investigating microbial treatment of radionuclides such as uranium.

These two books represent a cutting edge synthesis of modern research in this area with chapters written by international experts at the top of their fields. The books focus on important microbial functions in aquatic and terrestrial environments and their influence on 'global' processes. All major groups of geochemically-active microbes are represented in a wide range of habitats, reflecting the wealth of diversity in the microbial world.

The publications may help promote exciting collaborations between microbiologists and those in complementary physical and chemical disciplines. Indeed, Geoff's promotion of this subject has led to two major UK microbiology societies, the Society for General Microbiology and the British Mycological Society, supporting and organising international symposia on these topics.

Geoff Gadd is a professor in the College of Life Sciences.