It would be a disquieting statement, and not entirely accurate, were I to say that I liked nuclear war. However, I find the subject fascinating. After all, the technology for fighting wars has been increasing since the 1940s, with staggering implications, but many of the new technologies remain unused and poorly understood. While I'm not in a rush to see nuclear, biological and chemical warfare unleashed on our world, I would like to get a better grasp on the past, present, and future state of the technology.

This book did nearly nothing to help me toward that goal.

"NBC: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare on the Modern Battlefield" is, more than anything, a brief sketch of some of the NBC equipment that has been developed over the years. Even as this, the list is meager and lot particularly useful. The effects of various weapons, germs and chemicals are described in extremely vague and simple terms, and so much is left out that a clear picture can hardly be drawn from the included data. This isn't an issue, though; the book doesn't even try to explain how NBC weaponry might be used on the modern battlefield. It's up to the reader to take in the data and figure out applications for himself. Even doing that is complicated by the fact that the book's organization is loose and confusing.