[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

An edited version of this, my latest amazon.com book review, has just been submitted.
[ my (American) amazon reviews are also under my pen name of madbadgalaxyman ]

The book under review is "1,000,000 Years of Weapons : Tools of War through The Ages", by Dwight Jon Zimmerman, Published in 2012 by Tess Press (= Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers) ,
ISBN:: 9781603762786

Zimmerman is an accomplished military writer with a reputation for well-written and accurate coverage.
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BOOK REVIEW (by madbadgalaxyman)


Title of my amazon Review:
A comprehensive Overview of Weapons of War - Entertaining & Informative & non-technical


Rating: 5 stars.
Why 5 stars : An excellent quick read, which is comprehensive and informative, well-written and entertaining.


Not long after one of our starving distant ancestors first picked up a big rock and used it supplement his meagre food supply by hunting with it, somebody discovered that this powerful “new technology” weapon was also extremely useful for the purpose of injuring, or hunting and killing, a fellow human being who was proving troublesome. Ever since the genesis of our species, humans have frequently found many and varied reasons to visit the most extreme violence upon their fellow human beings, and they have been remarkably resourceful in finding new and ever more devastating tools for doing this.


Whether you love war, or loathe it, you have to admit that war has always troubled humankind, and will probably continue to trouble humankind. No matter that war is so often hell, a realistic appraisal of war and of the human condition and of human politics requires that we recognize the fact that the human mind has used all of its faculties to fashion the most extensive range of weapons, and that enormous reserves of intellect and ingenuity and energy continue to go into the design and building of ever more devastating weapons.


Nearly everything that you can possibly imagine has been ingeniously weaponized during human history and human pre-history…..and even non-mechanical tools such as strategy and leadership and sex and religion have been repeatedly utilized to facilitate warlike aims and activities. This book shines because it presents a comprehensive overview of the innumerable tools that have been invented for use in warfare, providing a bird’s eye view, and a quick and entertaining discussion, of the history and the broader implications of nearly every conceivable weapon.


The numerous entries (one per weapon) are very interestingly written, rather than being technical and too detailed, thereby giving the reader a broad and quick view of each weapon and its implications ;each weapon is described in a few paragraphs of interesting text, which quickly explain: (1) what it is. (2) its invention and its subsequent history. (3) how it has been used, and its broader implications. Each entry is also accompanied by a good photograph or drawing of the weapon, and the large number of weapons described in this book ensures that nearly every important Tool of War is very concisely described. Thus, given that this book is essentially a quick and easy read, it is good to find that it also contains pithy mini-essays on the more obscure topics such as: the dogs of war, the Bo, booby traps, non-lethal bullets, and herbicides.


In addition to entries describing nearly all of the the normal mechanical/physical weapons which were (and often still are) used throughout human history and pre-history, you will also find informative and entertaining short entries on non-conventional (but very important) weapons such as sex, leadership, propaganda, religion, public opinion, militarism, and suicide bombers. (For instance, Cleopatra used her womanly wiles to stop Julius Caesar from invading Egypt…..).
This interesting and well-structured volume is also leavened with a few informative entries about some of the intellectually brilliant (but usually extremely notorious!) Merchants and Engineers and Scientists of war; such as Colt, Maxim, Nobel, Krupp, Khashoggi, von Braun, Oppenheimer.



It shouldn’t just be aficionados of technology and military hardware and military strategy who should read this easy and beautifully written and attractively presented broad-brush Overview of the weapons of war. Indeed, people who study politics and sociology and human behaviour and human cognition should also read it……because a realistic appraisal of the human condition, an understanding of the security and future fate of the various nations, and an assessment of the security of ones own person, require answers to the following questions : :
-What weapons exist, in what numbers, and what are their capabilities?
-How skilled are the holders of the weapons in using them?
-Do those who may and can use the weapons have the will and the desire to fight with them?
-Will they actually use these weapons when they find reason to do so?
Even pacifists need to know the answers to these questions !


We should not get so carried away with our revulsion at the extreme devastation that modern weapons can cause that we ‘look the other way” during detailed discussions of war and weapon systems. War and weapon-systems are an ongoing reality which shows no sign of changing in the near future, so both the pacifists and the war-mongers should study this book in order to help answer a question which is essential to them: who has got which weapons, and what are the capabilities of these weapons, and how willing are the weapon-holders to actually use them?