Detailed, but not too scientific and easy to understand.

Narration: Clear enunciation, good tempo, decent cadence. Right amount of emotion at the right times - pretty good. Content: factual (assuming the sources are checked), well-structured with a flow that progressively builds the listener's knowledge. Logical layout (mostly chronological) makes it easy to pause and pick up again later.
I liked it.

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Excelent details and well written

This was a properly written book on a subject which is not only controversial, but also of which there's generally very little understanding in the public. As a chemist I think this book would provide even the most novice with a faint interest in chemistry or warfare history, to the well seasoned and well informed with a wealth of interesting facts and information.

The author does an excellent job of conveying what chemical weapons are, and more importantly, are not. There's a massive amount of misinformation and misunderstandings of what weaponized chemical agents are. This is a great read for anyone with no knowledge as well as those with a lot of knowledge to gain some more insight to both the history of these agents, but also their properties, compositions, uses, and limitations.

This will also be a good book to read for anyone who find themselves having concerns or angst for chemical weapons and war. I say this because the info in this book will give some insight to why we might not want to fear these weapons quite as much as some do. I will stress that they are terrifying and deadly weapons - just like other weapons of war, but understanding that they might not be the "doomsday" machines some are led to think they are, will undoubtedly help gain some reassurance and possibly feel more at ease.

Now for anyone who might think this is a book that will in any way teach them how to use or manufacture chemical nerve agents, I'm not sorry to disappoint you by saying that it is not. Again it does a great job of providing you with enough understanding of what the nerve agents are and how they are made, without giving you exact details which could help those wishing others harm. That's a fine line that can be incredibly difficult, and the author pulls this feat of rather gracefully.

On the flip side it gives a great deal of depth an organic chemist such as myself will find interesting. Many chemist will know what these agents are and many will probably even know how to manufacture them to some degree. Still this book shares a wealth of interesting and "safe" knowledge about the problems, challenges, and history about the development, manufacturing, and deployment.

Lastly the book has a well defined set of segment detailing wars, conflicts and terror attacks where nerve agents have been used. On top of this it goes into a great level of detail regarding the political and humanitarian aspects of these agents and weapons.

Overall, great book, and a great read.

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in war, weapons, chemistry and so on.

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Interesting, comprehensive and well paced

I was eagerly awaiting the appearance of this book on audible and it was well worth the wait.

Kaszeta travels at pace though the technical and historical aspects of nerve agents without getting bogged down and without drying out the topic - this translates well to audible. Feel free to gloss over the “proper” chemical names at first as the various code names and nicknames are far easier to remember.

Narration is great and never gets in the way of the material - two thumbs up. Shame I’ve finished it!

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2 people found this helpful