Biowarrior: Inside the Soviet/Russian Biological War Machine Book

Interesting memoir from one of the heads of the Russian biological science and warfare industry. This is less a study of the science involved and more a look into what life was like behind the iron curtain. Igor's career coincided with the last years of Stalin's reign and the Cold War, up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The most remarkable thing about this is just how completely backwards Russian ideology was for most of his career, and the frustration with trying to make objective advances in science when the government stubbornly stuck to false theories and goals. Igor was a scientist first and a patriot second, and these two worlds collided constantly as he sought to advance the understanding of diseases such as plague and typhoid while under the guise of developing biological weapons for the government. The secrecy and bureaucracy involved hindered most meaningful developments, but they were still able to make important discoveries and invent new methods for detecting and curing diseases (some of which wouldn't appear in the west until much later) It's a sad fact that war is a major motivating factor in a lot of scientific funding and discovery, and mostly this book reflects that and also the complete lack of competency and focus in higher levels of Russia. It's really a wonder anything got accomplished at all, but still fascinating to read about his life and career.