Rating: 
Summary: Cheesy
Review: Though this book is extremely relevant to everyone, I must say that it is not as exceptional as I had hoped. After all the hype and all the praise, I expected something more informative and more outrageous. The book covers the history of bioterrorism in a cheap, cheesy, slapped together at the last minute approach to a very suspenseful novel. It does give information on possible biological weapons, and their effects on the human body, but lists them in a helter-scelter fashion. That's all well and good as an attempt to keep the reader interested, but does very little if you want quick facts. A table of germs would have been nice, and THEN they could have listed every possible way to deliver them, when they've been used, and when they were discovered. Overall, it's written blandly and reads like a text book despite the editors' attempts to dress it up. Judith Miller has been preaching the bioterror sermon for a long time, and this book shows what has been on her mind. Though it's being acclaimed as something extraordinary, it's really just mediocre at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: The collaborators of "Germs" really predicted this whole attack. Just read the back of the book, and you'll see. This is an excellent book that speaks of biological attacks from the past, and how different scientists have tested different biological weapons. This is a must read, especially during this time of war.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Book, But Slapped Together Quickly
Review: Needless to say, this book covers a topic that's suddenly timely in a way its authors couldn't possibly have imagined while they were writing it. On balance, an interesting and quick read. I felt the book suffered from a lack of editing, though. It reads like what it is -- a collection of contributions from several authors, no doubt drawing heavily on previously published work. This is a long way from being a bad book, but especially in view of 9/11, this important topic deserves a more detailed and in-depth approach.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Insight
Review: This book coincidentally came out around Sept. 11. It could not have been released at a more perfect time. We are all worried about bio-germ warfare. This book shows us the reality of it. How prepared the US are, or aren't! How Iraq, Iran and Russia have programs designed at creating germs for offensive purposes. It is everything we want to know but the government is afraid to come forward and admit. What's truly amazing is the amount of time the US has been aware of this threat and how politics and bureaucracy has kept them from preparing this country from it. Read it for some good insight. All Americans should be researching the historical religious, polictical and scientific facts surrounding our present situation.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrifying and Timely
Review: This book is a remarkable and timely account of the US/Soviet germ warfare programs. This book illustrates why the U.S. was unprepared for recent anthrax attacks, and the ominous conclusions are even more terrifying given recent events. A must read for anyone interested in the 20th centry history of biological weapons.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read book!
Review: This is an excelent book, based on an excelent investigation. This book is a must-read because clarify all the aspects on the chem- bio weapons, since the investigation on the early '50s until the actual days.
I can almost say that is part of the actual history.
Bedides that is fresh and actual.
Rating:
Summary: Very thick
Review: I found Germs to be an excellent book in terms of the detail it provided on the "who's who" and of past bio-chemical programs and events. The reading is dry and heavy with facts and figures, somewhat like an encyclopedia. I was disappointed not to hear more about the players in bio-chem terrorism in the Middle East, save for one chapter on Saddam. Seems like no one knew about the potential Taliban/Islam threat until September 11. Tell us....where do we go from here?
Rating:
Summary: A great book about a situation that is very very serious
Review: This is obviously a book perfect for our current crisis. But it is even more than that. It is well written, well documented and eschews sensationalism while giving us a serious understanding of the threats we have faced unknowingly and are facing today. This is an example of great reporting serving an incredibly important topic. We could have used a lot more reporting on the very real threat of bio-weapons and a lot less on OJ, the poor little model, or the Levy-Condit scandal/mystery. Don't those topics all seem trivial now? Well, they were trivial then, but who among us really understood the threat we faced? It turns out that the US did indeed lead the way under President Nixon of abandoning the use and development of bio-weapons. However, while the signatures were still drying on the treaty banning bio-weapons, the Soviet Union was beginning to build such weapons on a scale no one except those in charge of the project could imagine. Before it started winding down during the terminal illness of the USSR they had amassed enough toxin to destroy all human life on this planet several times over. And we thought the only danger was the nuclear arsenals! The danger for us now is that the expertise for these weapons still exists and is in the heads of Soviet scientists desperately in need of work and money to feed their families. And who is the likely buyer of such expertise? Well, we now know that Saddam Hussein's Iraq has made enough anthrax and botulinum toxin to kill every human on the planet and are deep at work on a delivery system. Who knows if Saddam isn't behind the current anthrax attack. Of course, this book doesn't address such a topic since it went to press before September 11th. My view is that everyone owes it to him or her self to read this book and get up to date on a very real and very serious threat. These weapons are cheaper to build than nuclear bombs and missiles but are just as deadly. We must now face the fact that there are people in the world who want every one of us dead and that they will likely mount these kinds of attacks on us until they are successful or we render them incapable of such attacks. I vote for rendering them incapable through any means necessary to accomplish that goal. This threat is too real and too terrible for us to wait until something stupendously horrible happens from a bio-weapon or chemical attack. Do we have to lose thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of our citizens to anthrax, small pox, botulinum toxin, or, God forbid, Ebola before our leaders act? This has to be at least as or even more important than missile defense. However, it is difficult for politicians to take this on because we are so far behind in doing something about it and are at present so helpless. But to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that this grim reality will just go away if we ignore it is morally indefensible and will be fatal to our citizens sometime in the future. I just fervently pray that it isn't in the near future. We must not over react or panic. This is a time for seriousness and clear-headed planning. More of us die every day from driving our cars than have been affected by this present anthrax attack. Taking antibiotics without a real need is not only a waste, it is a way to undermine our ability to react against attacks in the future by rendering our best drugs impotent. But being calm does not mean to be idle or complacent or ignorant in the face of this terrible threat. Thanks for such a timely and important book for educating those of use who are non-specialists.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book to Understand History and Future of Germ Warfare
Review: This book is a very good account of the history and possible future of germ warfare, the act of taking bacteria and viruses and turning them into weapons. The book makes the point that whereas the impact of most weapons - including chemical weapons -- are felt only by the people directly "hit" by the weapon, many types of germ weapon involve agents that can spread silently through a population as people infect one another. Among the many alarming things, the diseases that can be spread through germ warfare often cannot be treated, particulary if they are engineered to combine diseases or other resist antibiotics or other drug treatments. The book is very well written and researched, covering in detail the development of germ warfare in the US, the former Soviet Union, and Iraq. Perhaps most alarmingly, it seems that the barriers to producing germ agents are becoming lower over time --that germ warfare could be the "poor man's hydrogen bomb" -- a realtively cheap and invisible weapon of mass destruction that terrorists could readily use. The book covers a lot of ground in about 320 pages of text. It is of course all the more timely since the terrorist attacks on Septmeber 11th and recent distribution of anthrax in the mail. The book opens up some of the most recent US policy involved in protecting against germ weapons, including efforts to beef up the public health system. This is a book that deserves a careful read. Although it is not meant to alarm (and is in no way sensational), the book makes provides the background to realize how dangerous the threat of biological attack really is.
Rating:
Summary: Help deter terrorist threat --- READ THIS!
Review: This book is a work of art. It tells you everything about the terrorist threat that is happening in America today. Anthrax and the Ebola virus are terrorizing everyone in the mail. We must do something to stop this madness! Please, read the book! It will tell you what to do. I feel smarter now. You should too.
This book gives history of biological terror. Starting from terrorist hindu cult to Cold War competition between U.S. and Soviet Union to come up with weapons in case of nuclear attack, all the way up to Saddan Hussain's secret terror campaign. Very reviting.
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