BlackDragon2712
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A laboratory history of chemical warfare agents a reliable book?
Hey guys I just found this book in the internet and it seriously surprised me on how detailed the procedures in this book were so I began wondering if
they were the actual procedures... I tried to find a little bit of information about the author but I barely found anything.
Not like if I am trying to repeat any of the stuff mentioned in the book (since I don't have neither the ability or the equipment to do so) but I was
just curious about it.
A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents by Jared Ledgard I would put a link to the book but I lost the download link.
This guy also wrote another book about the preparation of explosives, Preparatory Manual of Explosives by Jared Ledgard
So what do you people think?
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NexusDNA
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I've never heard of him, and I wouldn't recommend nerve agents for the amateur, but there's a disclaimer on the second page [here] that states the procedures were taken from public sources and carried out with successful results. There's no reason to think they aren't
legit.
It looks like an interesting book for safety measures, useful when you have a bottle leaking cyanogen fumes, or the after-party delusions with
phosgene.
PS.: Another member from South America, that's good! 
Bromine, definitely bromine.
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Texium
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"South of Chile…"
…or is he in Antarctica? 
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hissingnoise
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| Quote: |
This guy also wrote another book about the preparation of explosives, Preparatory Manual of Explosives by Jared Ledgard
So what do you people think? |
No book by Jared Ledgard should be put down lightly ─ but rather should be hurled with the most considerable force against a solid wall or better,
into an actively burning fire . . .
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Tsjerk
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Why would someone write reviews (as I don't believe he did all those preparations himself) about specifically chemical weapons and explosive? I think
it is just for earning money because of the sensational value, I wouldn't put to much trust in information from that book, especially when it come to
stuff that can kill you (so about anything).
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NexusDNA
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At least you can reference the bullshit. Always works for me. 
Bromine, definitely bromine.
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German
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http://lib.freescienceengineering.org/search.php?search_type...
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NOV:5
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Oh hell yeah, that's a valuable link. Thanks!
EDIT:
I mean the website, not that particular author...:
[Edited on 14-10-2014 by NOV:5]
Remember, Remember...
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UnintentionalChaos
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There's a reason Ledgard appears extensively in "the worst books ever written" thread...
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=4624
Department of Redundancy Department - Now with paperwork!
'In organic synthesis, we call decomposition products "crap", however this is not a IUPAC approved nomenclature.' -Nicodem
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macckone
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Those books are sketchy at best.
I haven't seen the chemical weapons one
But the explosives one has procedures
That don't appear to work or leave
Out important information.
Frankly chemical weapon don't
Belong in an amateur lab.
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careysub
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I took a quick scan of the Ledgard CW book and (as someone who was professionally involved with CW analysis during the 1980s) I can attest that he has
no insight into the subject: historical, military, or about the properties of the agents themselves. Most of it is regurgitations by an amateur,
presenting misconceptions and uninformed notions as fact, derived from widely available sources. I can see he has not accessed much (any?) of the
declassified original literature on the subject.
Regarding the syntheses, I have't studied them (yet), but a fundamental flaw in all of these tomes is that he is taking actual procedures from the
literature (at best) then reformulating them as if he is an authority expounding on the subject, without providing the actual reference. So
really they are falsified accounts and to the extent he alters the original he may introduce error.
I am sure he has done none of these syntheses. Making these highly toxic substances is a dangerous business and keeping the risk to acceptable levels
is very costly.
[Edited on 14-10-2014 by careysub]
Addendum: looking at more of his comments on the agents, it is much worse that I thought at first. He has loads of total excrement, stuff he is
scraping uncritically from ancient sensational reportage, rumours, and stuff he just plain makes up.
[Edited on 14-10-2014 by careysub]
As I said above "I can see he has not accessed much (any?) of the declassified original literature on the subject." and having reached the references
at the end of the book I see I am absolutely correct. Nor has any read any of the actual texts on the subject that are available. His knowledge of CW
agents and technology is scraped entirely from the patent literature, so that weird quasi-speculative material found there is treated as
authoritative. The material he cobbled together on dissemination techniques is laughable.
[Edited on 14-10-2014 by careysub]
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