24 March 2006

More Birthday Loot


I received an Amazon package today (Oh, joy! What's better than finding that swooshy-logoed box waiting for you?) containing birthday gifts from my brother and sister-in-law. One item was a nifty-looking book called "The Starving Artist's Way," which has inexpensive household projects and some recipes. But even better was the other book, which is pictured to the right. Apparently, the woman who established the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard (in 1936) created a series of little dollhouses that depicted actual crime scenes. These were used to help students learn to examine the evidence to solve crimes. The book contains photos and diagrams of the dollhouses. Also, this book has the best endpapers ever. They wouldn't show up in a photo, so you'll have to trust me on this one.

I'm not sure what it says about me that (1) my relatives would purchase this book for me for my birthday; (2) it would be one of my favorite birthday presents; and (3) I would be gravely (no pun intended) disappointed that this particular craft hadn't occured to me first.

PS--I am not a freaky serial killer. I am a Criminal Justice professor. Just wanted to make that clear.

3 comments:

Knatolee said...

Cool books! i put a library hold on "The Starving Artist's Way", but sadly, my useless library doesn't have the dollhouse book.

Knatolee said...

From Natalie's hubby - while working as a prosecutor in Toronto I had the chance to view the Paul Bernardo household mock-up from St. Catharines - likely the most famous domestic crime scene of recent Canadian history - but in its plexiglass glory it did not have nearly the same charm or detail as the houses in your book appear to have.

Phyllis said...

Thanks for posting, Natalie's Hubby! :-) That would have been cool to see the Bernardo mock-up. But you're right, the Nutshell dolls are very charming, gore and all. How could you not like a dollhouse that features a dead doll face-down in front of a bar, or another hanging in a pink bathroom??