Rating: 
Summary: A solid effort to enlighten the public
Review: The writers are journalists for the New York Times who have written a compelling and textbook account of the history of biological and chemical warfare during the 20th century and the ramifications for the future. While the title is a bit overzealous, the authors have done a commendable job of putting the subject in a balanced perspective.
Miller, the lead writer, starts the story with an account of a salmonella outbreak at restaurants in The Dalles, Oregon in 1984. It was later determined that the outbreak was engineered by the Rajneesh religious cult of central Oregon in a sorry attempt to influence local elections and reciprocate for perceived slights at the cult by the local populace. This was the first documented case of biological 'warfare' on American soil. What was also noteworthy was that the culprits were not immediately identified and authorities were very skeptical that the outbreak was anything but an accident until disgruntled cult members came forward. Concurrently, the incident was never given much press, partly due to the ignorance of such assaults. However, one can also argue that the implications of such an offensive also caused authorities to downplay its significance.
The authors do a very good job of putting the science of germ warfare into sharp relief. Creating germ warfare is not as easy as some may think. The engineering and scientific hurdles in trying to find a proper delivery vehicle for the germs are daunting and accidents can affect the perpetrators as much as their intended victims. Scientists in Russia have been killed by past experiments gone awry. Still, advancements in the science during the past 40 years have overcome many of these obstacles and the advent of bio-engineering strains through genetic research threaten to create new, much more virulent strains of deadly bugs such as anthrax.
Striding in lockstep with the scientific issues are the economic and political barriers. The authors speak clearly of the problems in developing vaccines. Talk of a super-vaccine that will protect people from a variety of ailments has been bandied about for years but the science does not support this optimism, at least for the foreseeable future. A study of anthrax vaccine development in this country is a great lesson. Pharmaceutical companies have not tried to develop and manufacture this vaccine because there is very little if any profit in it and liability issues have steeled their decision. Consequently, only a state-supported lab in Michigan produces a vaccine and their resources are poor. So when the Pentagon wanted to inoculate their soldiers with the vaccine, a decision that was hampered by many other issues, there was not enough vaccine to do the job and it would take many months if not years for enough to be produced. As a result, the Pentagon's inoculation project faltered. Also, with altered strains of anthrax a definite possibility, the value of the vaccine was rightly questioned.
Politically, authorities were all over the map. William Cohen, Defense secretary under Clinton appeared on a Sunday news talk show and held up a five pound bag of sugar, stating that if it was anthrax it would be sufficient to kill half the people in DC. Many experts challenged this assertion. Cohen's claim, they said, was based on overzealous premises that were unfounded. Many questioned the need for a stockpile of vaccines while others felt it was irresponsible not to produce enough for military and civilian populations. Either way, massive amounts of money would be needed for widespread inoculation programs and the CIA and the Pentagon were much more concerned about protecting the former Soviet Union's nuclear and conventional missiles from falling into suspect hands. As a result, even with Clinton's support, biological defense programs never really developed properly.
The authors' conclusions about the future are cloudy due to the vast uncertainty about where the world may be heading. However, I believe that Americans believe that science and the "American Way" can defend this country against almost any attack. Indeed, if you look at the response after 9/11 you see very little written or spoken about establishing better ties with the balance of the world. America is only 4% of the population and many of the other 96% look upon America as a bloated, egocentric bully incapable of balancing the global military of economic playing field. As a result, the number of people distrustful, disdainful and downright hostile to the U.S. seems to be growing. This book clearly demonstrates that America's strategy of sealing ourselves from the balance of the world and advancing military options towards any enemy, a so-called cowboy approach, is increasingly dangerous as America's foes, both state- supported and rogue organizations, become adept at understanding this new type of destructive warfare. As a result, Germs is as important for what it implies as it is for what it chronicles.
Rating: 
Summary: Bought it for hubby...
Review: I bought this as a gift for my husband. He started it, but put it down and hasn't gotten back to it for a couple of months. Hasn't said much about it, either. I suppose that says something about the book, though it's not very specific!
Rating:
Summary: A general explanation of a complicated problem
Review: Miller and company has managed to explain the complex issue of Biological Warfare(BW) in a general manner that is accessible to the public. And the outcome is not bad at all.While the media has pushed out frenzied reports and scattered statements in the year after Sept. 11 about BW this book really brings it all together in its history, possibilities, and limitations. If one wishes to go behind the headlines of the newspaper and acquire a better understanding of BW and its uses for the military and terrorist groups this book is a good start.
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Summary: Looking through a one-way mirror
Review: As much as possible, the authors stay away from technical details, as is necessary for a popular book. In that regard, this work is highly useful and timely. We come away understanding more about pathogens, bacteria and viral menaces than we would have had gone into serious detail. They keep it interesting. At one point the authors note that a suspected bacterial weapon manufacturing site was in a building in plain sight in Iraq, right under our noses! Yet throughout the book the authors are blind to the same thing going on right under our noses in this country - experimentation with deadly bacterias, development of weaponry, research and funding - all seen as OK becase we are only defending ourselves. Such apologetics left me suspecting that the authors suffer from a deep patriotism that has blinded them to any possibility that the US is a player in this field - that our greatest fear might be that others will use the weapons we developed to use on them against us. There is no interest but self-interest - the US wants to keep threats nuclear so that only powerful countries can stage a meaningful menace to humanity. Nixon knew that elimination of biological weapons is strictly a hegemonic device. The authors say this, but don't seem to understand. They see the US as rational, others not. I think it necessary in journalism in this land to have that selective blindness, but the reader is well advised to read between the lines in this book and see what the authors cannot. Finally, I note with interest that the Soviets were far ahead of the US in some ways, one of which is protection of their population by means of mass distribution of immunization. That's not how I was taught that evil empires behave.
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Summary: Good, Relevant, but ...
Review: I gave this books 3 stars though the authors did an excellent job gathering historical documentation (including government documentation) and personal interviews. I believe the book lacks technical information about the biological agents it mentions. The little information you find is at times too imprecise, besides the book is too full of facts and historical information that I sometimes had to go back a couple of pages to refresh my memory just to find out later that it had been in vain since finally the idea, concept or plan being developed ended up in a completely different way. So it is a little confuse to read although the authors writing style is bearable. This book makes you concient of the real threat biological warefare is and the lab hours and dollars invested in it. What a cheap and powerful weapon an insignificant germ is.
Rating: 
Summary: Uses hundreds of interviews
Review: In the past decade the government has realized the U.S. is defenseless against the possibilities of germ weaponry, despite its leadership role in science and technology. This uses hundreds of interviews with scientists, intelligence officers and government officials to examine how new 'bio-defenders' are dealing with the possibility of biological weapons. The history of such research and realizations is fascinating.
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Summary: An Important Book
Review: An engrossing book that should be read by everyone who may be worried about the threat or history of germ warfare. The US Government began worrying about the threat of biological attacks back in 1949. Unfortunately we have not come far enough in the technology that is needed to protect our citizens. This book covers many of the possible germ warfare agents and how they came about. How they progressed, who has them. It reviews the US Governments program at Ft. Dietrick, Maryland and one of its most known scientist, Bill Patrick. It talks about the vast amount of agents that were stockpiled by the Russian's while they insisted (and we believed) that they were not building an arsenal. Another troubling thought is the information about who has increased their germ warfare capabilities after the fall of the Soviet Union. Where did all their government paid scientists go? While we tried to address this issue at the time, it did not solve the entire problem. Who do you think is a threat? China? Iran? Iraq? India? Argentina? Canada? Read this book to obtain the information to make an informed decision. This is an excellent book with a few faults and some contradictions but the light that it sheds on so many unkown facts and historical events is eye opening. Do yourself a favor and read this book.
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Summary: Read The Books They Reference
Review: The threats that are described in this book are extremely serious and they deserve serious, accurate, and consistent documentation. This book contradicts itself and gives tabloid phrasing to issues instead of explaining them. Page 166, "Since 100 grams of dried Anthrax was theoretically enough to wipe out a small city", on page 216 they recounted when a five pound bag of sugar was used as a prop to explain that if the five pounds were dried Anthrax, it would kill half the population of the city of Washington, the nation's capital, or about 300,000 people. They then go on at length to discredit this example. If on page 166 100 grams of dried Anthrax would wipe out a small city, why would 5 pounds of dried Anthrax, or 2.25 Kilograms, or 2,250 Grams, or 22.5 times of their example on page 166 be worthy of their ridicule? On the same page they also state that theoretically 5 pounds would kill the 300,000. Hemorrhagic Fevers like Ebola are incredibly lethal, and the symptoms they create are gruesome. If you are interested in the basics of how this type of disease causes death and massive bleeding, this book will not tell you. It is described as a disease that will, "bleed you dry", a great tabloid headline, worthless for understanding the disease. It has been suggested that the terrorists who brought down The World Trade Center could have brought some Bioweapon on board with them. Delivery systems specifically designed to spread disease kill 98-99 percent of the load they carry. How likely would it be that the 1 or 2 percent that would survive a device meant to deliver it alive and lethal would have survived the inferno the planes created? The United States and others have improved on the weapons that deliver these pathogens, and while the efficacy is improved no numbers have been shared. Delivery by aerosol would have been possible, but taking down 2 1500-foot high buildings and many others that surrounded them was evidently enough for one day. There are excellent books that are referenced in, "Germs", that are vastly superior to this work. Some books were written by defectors from the former Soviet Union (mentioned in this book) who ran Soviet production facilities that could make 300 metric tons of Anthrax every 220 days, others by Doctors from The Center For Disease Control who not only worked in Level 4 Biohazard Labs, they also pursued bugs like Ebola out in the field in Africa. "Scourge", is a recent work that is an excellent history of Smallpox and its eventual, "eradication". There have been a number of books on these topics, and they seem to break in to two categories, there are those that are written by people who are part of the groups that either produce, track these viruses, or work to create defenses against them. And then there are books like this, that from the bibliography appear to be a summation of other primary sources. The former educate, the latter sensationalize. This is a poorly constructed book that is delivered with an editorial slant.
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Summary: America's worst enemy
Review: This book is a factual account of the biological terrorism that has and is plaguing the United States for some time. I found the authors researched the subject with leaving no stones unturned. The depth with which the authors take the reader is astounding. I found myself asking why have we not taken the biological terrrorists attacks more seriously before September 11th??? The book gives great detail about these germs and the pains in which they have been chemcically engineered by militant terrorists groups. This type of terrorism seems so brutal and unforgiving. There are many factions holding on to germs for warfare. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the leading germ warfare.
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Summary: Bio Terrorism becomes a Nightmare, Indeed!
Review: A frightening and unforgettable narrative of cutting-edge science and spy craft. In the groundbreaking investigation journalism, Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, and William Broad of The New York Times uncover the truth about biological weapons and show why bio-warfare and bio-terrorism are fast becoming our worst national nightmare. Germs shows why advances in biology and the spread of germ weapons expertise to such countries as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea could make germs the weapon of the twenty-first century. Germs sprayed in shopping malls, bombs that let scars in battlefields, plague spread in Times Square and all is a common man's hydrogen bombs, hideous weapons of mass destruction that can be made in a simple laboratory.
There are some startling revelations found in the Book Germs and these shows bio-warriors, past and present at their trade. There is the American scientist who devoted his professional life to perfecting biological weapons, and the Nobel laureate who helped pioneer the new biology of genetically modified germs and is now trying to stop its misuse. The Germs focus on former Soviet scientists who made enough plague, smallpox, and anthrax to kill everyone on Earth and whose expertise is now in great demand by terrorists, rogue states, and legitimate research labs alike. Germs shows how a small group of scientists and senior officials persuaded President Bill Clinton to launch a controversial multibillion-dollar program to detect a germ attack on U.S. soil and to aid its victims, a program that, so far, is struggling to provide real protection. Its Terrorism everywhere! The world combats to fight the fury of man man weapons leading to endless destruction and violence.
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