The book has the expected components: a brief outline of plant
pathology, a review of the effects of disease on crop yield and its effects across the world. It also uses declassified US documents to assemble a history of US anticrop warfare research and a large chapter on the planning of a possible attack on China's rice crop.

The overall view is historical and the chapters on the history of the US program are the most interesting and illuminate many interesting points. However, Whitby is a policy wonk and he keeps on charging off the track into thickets of policy that are are not relevant to his thesis. There is a large section on how Vannevar Bush manoeuvered himself into a dominant position in the wartime scientific research establishment. Whether Vannevar Bush or Kate Bush was in charge of scientific research at the time is irrelevant. The person having the greatest effect on vulnerability to anti-crop biological warfare was already in Washington and doesn't get mentioned in the book at all. Other excursions into the policy debate are more interesting, such as
Cuba's efforts to get two thrips included in the list of anticrop agents which highlights the challenges and the highly political nature of the topic. It is a highly political topic, but I do not see policy issues as relevant to an analysis of the nature and effects of anti-crop warfare.

As a policy wonk Whitby does not appear at all comfortable with the science. He spends many pages in lengthy quotes to define terms that he could have covered in a few lines and comes up with strained repetitive writing. Later in the book he pleads shortage of space. He also makes a number of technical errors (Phytophthora was taken out of the fungi half a decade ago; witches' broom isn't caused by a fungus.) Scientific
names are often inaccurate or outdated and the partially translated table of insect pests that Nazi Germany investigated is largely useless. However, there is a good discussion of major crops and their pathogens.

Does he prove his point? Not entirely. Apart from the policy debates, the book centers on declassified, and also very old, research from the United States. The documents show that anti-crop warfare was taken seriously and that target crops had been identified and the technical, logistic, and tactical problems were addressed and that ways to cause great damage were considered. Things have changed. Some of the agents not used in the 1950's may be useful now because of advances in technologies such as microencapsulation and culture methods. New agents have appeared, we have a much greater understanding of the relationship between crops and their pathogens and we have better defenses. The landscape of 2003 is very different from that of 1953, 1963, and even 1993.

More importantly, the book does not look at changes in agriculture and in crop plants in the past 50 years. The person not mentioned by Whitby who may have greatly increased crop plant vulnerability, but who also did so much good for US agriculture was Vice-President Henry Wallace. Wallace was a plant breeder. He greatly increased the yield and improved the agronomic performance of corn (maize) by selective breeding. He did this by bringing corn under control. He established a group of highly inbred lines that could be crossed and recrossed and selected and screened for the sort of performance farmers wanted. The consequence of this was that he also narrowed the genetic variability available to the plant breeder. All the plants in any field of cereals are genetically almost identical, they share the same strengths and the same weaknesses. A pathogen that attacks any one plant of a variety will attack them all. The ability to introduce weaknesses into plants is demonstrated by the accidental introduction of susceptibility to Southern leaf blight by corn breeders in the 1980's. Brief case studies of major crop failures caused by disease would have been helpful.

This book is not without merit. It brings to light a great deal of interesting information and heads largely in the right direction. I have to think that it could have been greatly improved if Whitby had spent a bit less time in the archives, and had left his office at the University of Bradford to spend a few hours talking to farmers in the Vale of York.

It covers the early efforts by France and Germany, then US and British efforts. Also described are US weapon systems, and target analysis.

This is a must have book in regards to studing anticrop BW, and understanding its history.

Personally, I feel that a book that deals with a clinical psychological issue, such as burnout, should rely on academic research and reasoning. That is missing here. Time and again the bible is taken as the source of all truth and the author's interpretation as our guiding line for doing things in life. Especially the latter makes it very difficult reading for people with academic training who are used to take a critical view of unsubstantiated statements.

I would keep books like these only for people that wish to learn about the Buddhism taught by Gotama, not by a long line of Lama's in a region that never heard of Buddhism for centuries after it died out.

"Building Backyard Structures" is a deceptively good-looking book. Alas, nice color pictures won't help you design and build the shed or other small building you need in your backyard. A more accurate title would be "Plans for Seven Backyard Structures". If you want ANYTHING other than these exact seven plans you'll need to look elsewhere.

The deception starts right at the beginning. The chapters are:
1. Building Materials
2. Planning Your Project
3. Foundations
4. Framing
5. Roofing
6. Siding
7. Doors and Windows
8. Utility Shed
9. Pole Barn
10. Woodshed
11. Garbage House
12. Pool or Patio Shed
13. Gazebo
14. Children's Playhouse/Outdoor Toy Storage Shed
and you'd reasonably expect that the first seven chapters would provide a useful framework for creating your own small backyard project. You would be wrong, however.

In Chapter 3 the book illustrates five types of foundations. Unfortunately, the text then only discusses how to work with two of them; if you've got a wooden post or concrete slab project in mind, for instance, you're out of luck.

Chapter 4 is even more disappointing. Rather than tell you what you need to know to frame a shed wall, it merely states that "Local codes and the structure's design will dictate the stud spacing". The chapter goes through the steps of framing in numbered order, but again doesn't tell you enough to know what you're doing. Another quote: "Step 12: Add the Bracing. Walls with plywood sheathing or siding generally do not require additional bracing." There's no further explanation about when this "generally" applies, or why. Moving on to roof framing, the authors once again fall back to "Local building codes and the structure's design are going to dictate the size and spacing of the rafters" -- again, without telling you enough to create or even modify an existing design. Finally, they tell you how to create only bird's-mouth rafters, but then later in the book the plans for two smaller projects use straight rafters and mitered studs, instead.

Chapter 5 talks about five types of roofing materials, but then only discusses how to use two of them -- neither of which are suitable for shallow-pitched roofs -- but then the book doesn't tell you about THAT pitfall, either.

Moving into the specific projects doesn't provide much greater clarity. Each project has a "Materials List", but in the Quantity column the information is often labeled "as required", meaning multiple trips to the building supply store for you. And don't forget that in addition to the "Materials List", there's also "Miscellaneous Materials"; you need all the materials on both lists, plus the materials they've forgotten to put on EITHER list. Completely missing is any list of tools required; you'll have to read the complete chapter for that.

I won't go into all the projects. I'll just mention a few problems, and hope that provides enough insight into this book's suitability for your purposes. Do note, though, that NONE of the seven projects tell you how or why the structure's design will dictate foundation choice, stud spacing, rafter configuration, or roofing material selection. They just present each plan as if all these questions had already been answered.

In the Pole Barn project the illustration shows a door made with 2x4 battens without diagonal bracing, and the text then says "Refer to Chapter 7 for information on making and hanging a board-and-batten door." But Chapter 7 only shows how to make a door with 1x4 battens with diagonal bracing, and only how to install a pre-hung door.

In the Garbage House project, you'll need a router and four different router bits. No other part of the book mentions a router, how to use it, or why it might be required for a backyard structure. This project also requires you to assemble lattice from scratch, conveniently failing to mention that you can buy the stuff, pre-made, at any home center.

Finally, the Pool Shed project includes a tile top, and just has three paragraphs that literally say "install the tile" and very little else. There's no information about what tools are required other than a tile cutter. Nor do the components (tiles, cement backer board, thinset mortar) show up on either the "Materials List" or "Miscellaneous Materials" for this project. (The cement backer board and thinset mortar are my additions; the text doesn't mention them at all.)

Color me VERY disappointed.