AUTHOR:Joe Nickell CATEGORY:skepticism COMMENT:While this book only briefly touches on topics of the paranormal (Shroud of Turin) and cult-archaeology (Vinland Map), it gives good coverage to scientific methods of investigating questioned documents and the methods forgers use. It discusses the various scientific tests for documents, along with the strengths and weaknesses of those tests, with a page or so devoted to why Walter McCrone found different results than a group of scientists at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory on the question of the "Vinland" Map's authenticity. The book contains a generous complement of footnotes, and a good bibliography for further study in document investigation. DATE:20000225 KEYWORDS:cult-archaeology fraud shroud skepticism:methodology MISC:228p. PUBLISHER:University Press of Kentucky SUBMITADDR:Kirby@UII.com SUBMITNAME:Tom Kirby TITLE:Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents YEAR:1996