(Pub date 7/28/2026)
In 2024, Annie Jacobsen released her disturbing book, "Nuclear War: A Scenario" and Thornwell's nonfiction book club chose to read it. As we probably all know by now, in the event of a nuclear war, most if not all, of us will die. There is a certain relief in not having to figure out an emergency plan of action. Remember during the 60s in the Cold War when people built underground bomb shelters in their yards? Save yourself the work. It's not going to do you any good. What was disturbing was how little it would take for a nuclear war to start even among state actors that don't want one.
In July of this year, Jacobsen released her next book "Biological War: A Scenario" and, again, our nonfiction book club chose to read and discuss it. I admit, I came very close to not reading it. I assumed that, just as in a nuclear war, there is no way to protect yourself from biological warfare and it is all so depressing! And yet, I glanced at the book two days before the book club met and couldn't put it down until I had read it all.
Just to be clear, you aren't likely to survive biological war either or if you do, it will be a matter of luck--not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The insanity of the pathogens governments are working on is mind boggling. The goal is to infect civilian populations without damaging infrastructure that a conquering nation might want to take over. In addition to causing death, these biological agents are deigned to undermine the confidence of the afflicted people in their own government's ability to defend them meaning the deaths are particularly painful and savage.
The biological warfare scenario differs from the case of nuclear war in that there are more variables for the way it unfolds but also less ability for any actor to control the weapon they release. Because our world has become so closely interconnected it is possible for us, and the pathogens we carry, to reach every corner of the globe in a short time. The only hope in "germ warfare" is for scientists to get a blueprint of the pathogen and develop an antidote very quickly, preferably in hours not days.
Since 9/11 the number of labs working on biological weapons has mushroomed. In the US alone, we went from 2 high level containment facilities in 2001 to close to 1400 by 2017. The science that makes these pathogens so deadly is recombinant DNA research that allows genes to be spliced together creating nightmare weapons with no cures.
While Jacobsen does not say so explicitly, she seems to think it likely that COVID began as a leak from a lab in China. If so, we already have an example of how a biological war could unfold. But COVID had a transmission rate only slightly higher than the seasonal flu.
So why should you read "Biological War"? There is a huge biodefense industrial complex operating around the world with little oversight and which we, the public, are largely unaware of. In the worst case scenario, these manufactured pathogens could cause the extermination of all human life. We should all educate ourselves on these dangers if we want to advocate for our future survival.
reviewed by Jean C VanNoppen
