However I certainly learnt much from it. If you are looking for a good book to state the current world situation this book will do the trick in a quite readable form.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:


An ordeal to read  Aug 28, 2009 By Naz
I thought at only 256 pages this book would be a quick read. Instead, it has about 40-50 pages of interesting information followed by either total repetition of previous information or extremely simplistic musings. (I hate not finishing a book, but this one was like reading a incoherant text book,

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


AN EXCELLENT PRIMER!  Jan 08, 2009 By Swubird
The possibility of home-made WMD's is front page news nowadays. But if you happen to notice your neighbor reading How to Build a Nuclear Bomb: And Other Weapons of Mass Destruction (Nation Books), by Frank Barnaby, don't panic. Building WMD's is a lot easier said than done.

Building an A-bomb requires a bunch of money, specialized scientists, technicians, uranium, a uranium enrichment facility, and a big, big room to assemble the thing. Can you build one from spare parts? Maybe. But A-bombs aren't like bikinis - you can't mix and match the precision parts. What about buying an A-bomb on the black market? Okay. But remember, most countries can't afford nuclear programs. Neither can individuals. So as you can see, building an A-bomb is a very big deal.

Chemical weapons are a little bit cheaper. However, you still need chemists, a production facility, and chemicals. And even if you do concoct a little poison gas, it's a tricky business deploying the stuff without killing yourself in the process. The problem is that when gas is released into the air, it typically goes where it goes - not where you want it to go. Anybody who has ever sat around a campfire knows that. Wherever you're sitting, that's where the smoke goes - Right? And if that smoke is poison gas, Hasta la vista baby!

Biological weapons are probably the cheapest of the three. But, again, you 'll need specialized equipment and a suitable laboratory. Additionally, you have to know something about microbiology. Yikes! Then you have to decide what germ you want to weaponize, and who'll sell it to you. Plague? Ebola? Anthrax? Smallpox? They're all horrific killers. Plus, they're hard to acquire. But even if you could get your grimy mitts on one of them, keeping the little bugger alive is easier said than done. Too hot - they die. Too cold - they die. Plus, if you make the slightest mistake - you die. And like gas, germs don't behave they way you want them to. Most likely they'll blow right back into your face. Oops!

The bottom line is that WMD's are too expensive to buy, too difficult to make and too dangerous to handle. So don't worry about your neighbor. He's probably just reading this book to mess with your head. Speaking of weird neighbors, check out my comments on The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor. Now there's a neighbor you have to worry about.

This book is an excellent primer on WMD's I highly recommend it.

9 of 16 found the following review helpful:


An intelligent, rational discussion of terrorism/counterterrorism  Jul 22, 2006 By Dr. Lee D. Carlson
Only a twisted prankster or a deluded madperson would publish a book on how to build a nuclear weapon. The author of this book however does not fit any of these two categories, and despite the title of this book, he has written a book that covers the issues and horrifying prospects behind chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. The title therefore is somewhat misleading, and one should not expect to find detailed explanations on how to construct a nuclear bomb. Even a terrorist group who was interested or had the knowledge on how to do this would not share this knowledge, preferring instead to keep it to itself.

The book was first targeted to a British audience, but in this new edition one finds a new preface that is directed to readers in the United States. This preface was written after the immoral and illegal invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003. and the author makes a clear and skeptical allusion to the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He is concerned with any kind of nuclear development in places like North Korea and Iran, and gives some evidence and insight into the status of their nuclear programs.

In any case the author's purpose in writing the book is in his words to "contribute to informed debate" by giving some details on how weapons of mass destruction can be developed and then used. If the actual building of a nuclear bomb is very difficult, even with weapons grade material available, then perhaps the goal of anti-terrorist planning should be more in the area of chemical and biological weapons, and in strict monitoring of the location of nuclear weapons that are already built. A terrorist group interested in using nuclear weapons in their attacks on civilian populations would find it easier to steal a nuclear weapon than to develop, or perhaps purchase one from a "rogue" state that is sympathetic with their grievances.

The author does not give a general definition of what he considers "terrorism" to be, but a good definition that encapsulates the intent of terrorists would be:

"Terrorism is the deliberate act of killing civilians for the purpose of bringing about a particular end or goal, political or otherwise".

The key part of this definition is in the real intent of killing civilians, rather than them being merely inadvertently killed when in the way of a military target. Thus the attacks on the World Trade Center were clearly terrorism, while the attack on the Pentagon was not, since the latter targeted a military installation. Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli citizens are also acts of terrorism, as was the purposeful killing of Palestinians when their country was taken over by Zionist forces in 1949. The firebombing of Tokyo and Dresden by the Allies in World War II was also clearly a terrorist act and the nuclear attacks by the United States against Hiroshima and Nagasaki were without doubt acts of terrorism if one accepts the above definition.

Thus individuals from many walks of life and political ideologies practice terrorism, both with primitive weapons and more sophisticated and deadly ones. Although the author does not state it explicitly, to date only the government of the United States has practiced nuclear terrorism, but the author asks the reader to consider whether the threat of nuclear terrorism by other groups or "rogue states" is a real one or one that has been exaggerated. To inflate the threat of terrorism to bring about a particular end or goal, political or otherwise, is a dastardly act, but the possibility of this occurring must be considered alongside the real threat of terrorism. We must be able to distinguish a real threat from an exaggerated one, in order to stay focused on genuine dangers and not those that are hyped up by a particular political party or governmental agenc (a good example being the current regime in Washington).

This is another good reason for reading this book, because it allows a more objective assessment of the effects of weapons of mass destruction, the degree of difficulty in their development, and the likelihood of their use by groups or countries. The author is skeptical of the chances of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, given the ability of countries that have them to obtain "dominant positions" in their regions. Most importantly, he addresses the ability of democratic societies to counter international terrorism without becoming an authoritarian regime in the process. He quotes a study that indicates that the likelihood of finding a terrorist group in a democratic society is 3.5 times the likelihood of finding one in an authoritarian regime. He does not elaborate on how these odds were calculated unfortunately.

Anyone with a strong physics background has no doubt amused herself or himself at one time or another on just how they would build a nuclear bomb, if they were not currently working in nuclear weapons projects. It is natural to have such a curiosity, and this reviewer has been involved in many such conversations over lunch or in front of campfires. Without divulging classified knowledge, the author gives a brief overview of the physics and technology behind nuclear weapons in the book. The physicist reader will definitely find this part of the book interesting, even though the physics is kept at a very low level, in order to allow the book to appeal to a wider audience.

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