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Summary: Reality is catching up with this book
Review: In their book, the author of GERMS brings us closer to the reality of bio warfare and also tackles bio terrorism. With the recent anthrax scares this book provides an excellent behind-the-scenes look of the potential of bio warfare and how it may escalade in the years to come. If terrorists have access to these biological weapons, then may God have mercy on us. Aside from bio terrorism, there are still rogue regimes in the Middle East, Far East and in Asia that may use supernukes to attack the U.S. ... and an excellent new book that I also recommend, takes us behind the scenes and inside the terror networks of global nuclear terrorism: THE CONSULTANT by Alec Donzi.
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Summary: Very good book
Review: The timing could not have been better for this book. It is highly recommended to everyone as it serves to educate on a most essential subject of the times.
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Summary: A Timely Warning
Review: It is hard to imagine a more timely book than _Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War_ (Simon and Schuster) by New York Times reporters Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, and William Broad. Their book happened to come on the shelves immediately after the terror attacks of 11 September, and in the middle of various anthrax scares. We are getting used to living in a world where zealots want thousands of Americans dead however they can arrange it, and where the use of biological agents was only formerly considered unthinkable. This disturbing book, with convincing research, alarming anecdotes, and useful analysis of US policy, is a fine overview of a worrisome and all-too-essential topic.There has been a biological attack on America before. The book starts out in Oregon in 1984 with a mass poisoning carried out by (surprise!) an extremist religious group. The devotees had the tools but did not have all the biotechnical expertise they needed. Other nations don't. Experts in the field say "they could teach a terrorist group how to make devastating germ weapons from a few handfuls of backyard dirt and some widely available lab equipment." And a few steps up in technology, and they can use gene modification to make even deadlier germs. Much of the book has to deal with how our government has imperfectly dealt with the biological threat, doing its usual dance of money allocations to those who could manage to convince the right people that their particular program was the worthy one. President Clinton was intensely interested in biological arms, and insisted that his staff members think about the unthinkable, rehearsing how the government might handle biological attacks. Such "tabletop games" proved that logistics, legal authority, and medical capacity would all break down as thousands of sick and dying victims exhausted local and national resources. While the authors pay close attention to the verification protocols imposed upon Iraq and the history of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda gets little attention, something that would have been quite different, one assumes, if the book were published after 11 September. Nonetheless, the authors conclude, "The world's response to the growing dangers of germ weapons has fallen far short of what is needed." This is not an alarmist book but one which has obviously been carefully researched and brightly written. The authors warn against our thinking that the germ threat is a hoax, which we are now unlikely to do; and show how the investments against a real threat have up to now been "too haphazard and diffuse." Those who read this troubling book will be well informed just how outdated such efforts have become only in the days of its first publication.
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Summary: Biological warfare/terrorism made real
Review: Judith Miller explains the biological warfare very well. She also reveals the secret weapons of mass destruction developed by the U.S. military, CIA and other agencies as billions of tax dollars were invested. Now in current news, biological warfare has become very real, although still in isolated cases, and what Miller talks about in her book could possibly affect millions of people. Aside from biological warfare there's the serious and present danger of biological terrorism. Reading Germs provides an inside look to the potential of these weapons of mass destruction. There's still the significant danger of nuclear terrorism, which is more expensive but even more devastating than the biological attacks. According to another very interesting book, which is apparently based on de-classified CIA reports, some rogue regimes in Asia can't wait to fire their supernukes and kill millions, as it is told in the new thriller THE CONSULTANT by Alec Donzi.
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Summary: Death of a Thousand Cuts
Review: At the momemt cases both real and imagined, pulmonary and cutaneous anthrax are popping up here and there about the nation. Talk about timely, this book could not be moreso. After the 9-11 attack I reviewed items soon-to-be-published on amazon.com and discovered this title. I hustled on down to the local public library and requested it. Some visionary in the acquisitions department of the Baltimore County Public Library had already ordered MANY copies so I put my name on the waiting list and very shortly thereafter a copy came up to my local branch. Now that I have read it, I want my own copy. There are people virtually standing in line to borrow this really hot title. The subject is germ warfare as it has been dealt with by the U.S. and former Soviet govts with many references to Iran and Iraq and Osima bin Laden in particular. Names are given and fingers are pointed. More than enough information is given on the various germs that have been played with by one and all. Some of these include the now familiar anthrax to less well known but even more deadly and contagious, smallpox, plague, Ebola, etc. It is crystal clear to me that the unleashing of smallpox could devastate the U.S.A. in short order since the systematic innoculation against it was discontinued many years ago. Immunity to smallpox diminishes with time. My own innoculation took place many years ago and I am assured that I no longer enjoy immunity. This book also indicates that there are different and more deadly strains around as well. Spreading smallpox would be even easier than anthrax, If terrorists are responsible for the recent outbreaks of anthrax, they must be metaphorically employing the tortuous technique of "Death by a Thousand Cuts" or being nibbled to death over a long period of time. People are thereby gradually demoralized and still dead at the end. I strongly recommend reading this work. It is not entertaining but the information therein is quite valuble.
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Summary: Very Educational Book
Review: This book was great, it cuts through all the rumors and gets to the truth behind the most dangerous diseases. This book is a must have through all the anthrax worries now.
Also recommend a book titled HUNTING THE DEAD methods of ghost chasing. Which also explains about related information.
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Summary: Poignant and Frightening; Read this book....NOW!
Review: Speaking of timely...what an understatement. With two confirmed cases of Anthrax (as of 10/10/01) staring the U.S. in the face (whether associated with terrorist activities remains to be seen), this book could not have been shoved to the forefront at a more necessary time. In this expose, Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, and William Broad, writers with The New York Times, report to an ostensibly unaware public the truth regarding biological weapons. They make an extremely compelling case that biological warfare, not conventional conflicts, could become the U.S.'s worst nightmare and the everyday U.S. citizen's worst fear. "Germs'" foundation is based on an incredible number of interviews with bio-scientists and other knowledgable officials thereby creating a very real basis for belief. During the 1950s and 1960s, Miller reports that the U.S. promoted and maintained an active biological program. Led by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in the 1970s, the U.S. reportedly discontinued its biological production and maintenance program. (While program discontinuation made this reader feel proud, it also became haunting given the potential consequences of NOT having the ability to defense such biological threats.) The reemergence of the biological threat came in the form of the Gulf War and Saddam Hussein. While the U.S. may have crippled Iraq's immediate biological abilities during the Gulf War, Saddam may have reconstituted the program over the succeeding decade and THAT may be the crux of the immediate threat to the U.S. Every American should read this book. It was very well written and researched. I cannot commend the authors enough. Educate yourself and understand the threat.
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Summary: Scary, but very important
Review: ... Miller, Engelberg and Broad basically do a pretty good job here of scaring the living daylights out of their readers. There are occasionally some small errors, and there is a tendency to be overly dramatic, I think. The plain facts are scary enough -- histrionics are unecessary. I suppose, however, that their intent is to galvanize the public into demanding more proactive, comprehensive programs of pre-emptive action from our national leaders and policy-makers. I hope they are successful. I know that I, for one, would be perfectly happy to go without a few civil liberties for awhile if it meant increased protection against the horrendous, nightmarish scenarios described in this book. I recommend ordering this, and if you can find a copy, seek it out in your local library while you're waiting for the publishers to print up a few million more copies. Also -- if the kinds of events portrayed in this book occur, one of the very few ways that we'll be able to protect ourselves to ANY extent is by trying to grow at least some of our own vegetables, in the safety of our own homes. At least this way people will have SOME insurance, some security, in that the food they serve their kids will not have been exposed to any unknown contaminants. There is a way to do this, even in the dead of winter. It's called "hydroponics," and it has been an evolving technology since the 1930s. Amazon.com sells several books on this topic. I would like to recommend "Hydroponic Home Food Gardens" by Howard M. Resh. Also, "Beginning Hydroponics or Soilless Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Vegetables, House Plants, Flowers, and Herbs Without Soil" by Richard E. Nicholls, is quite useful.
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Summary: There is a better book
Review: If you are interested in this, you should also look at what I believe to be a much more authoritative book--from the guy who used to head the Soviet's biological warfare program. That book came out some two years ago, but suddenly it's become more topical than ever. Forget about the media hyperbole and the talking heads, here is someone who really knows what he is talking about. His name is Ken Alibek, and his book is called Biohazard.
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Summary: I'm no scientist, but this book infuriates me
Review: How can any government including our own experiment on our own citizens. If all the information in this book is true; why the hell don't we stop this insanity? The evolution of warfare/terrorism will result in the destruction of all mankind. The agruement that if they have it and we don't doesn't wash with me. We have other weapons and have demonstrated our will to use them when provoked. The world is evolving; this is true. However with the help of technology, freedom, a strong and shared world economy, we can prevent a worldwide disaster. Jerry Furland's book "Transfer: the end of the beginning" is a giant step in the right direction to solve the social, economic, and geo-political problems of the first decade of the 21st century. Read both of these books and you tell me which scenario you would prefer.
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