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A review by laci
You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News: Shocking But Utterly True Facts by Cracked Com
2.0
This is harder to judge than it may seem. The book itself is written in typical, cracked.com style. And even though I usually enjoy it a lot, this time it was complicated.
First of all, I read some of the articles online. So even though they were good (e.g. the one about bugs), they weren't new. And they would be more interesting for someone less knowledgeable. The way the book is crafted counts on reactions of surprise and disbelief of the reader. More often than not, it's pulled off smoothly. But if you know a bit about the topic, the magic vanishes.
For example, when the book tells you "because of saccadic masking, you are effectively blind for 40 minutes a day" you are expected to go "OH WOW REALLY? You must be kidding me!" If instead you think "well yeah, that's hardly surprising", the rest of the text suddenly loses its impact.
And last but not least, some chapters really seem to be a bit of a stretch. Sure, they may be based on facts. But the 'scientific' implications outlined are sometimes questionable at best.
So the final verdict? It isn't a bad read. In spite of these shortcomings, I might still recommend it. If you like Cracked's style and sense of humour, by all means, go ahead.
However: first read Everything is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway, also an author at Cracked. The book is thematically less diverse, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. As You Might be a Zombie itself says in the Credits section: Brockway's book "is infinitely superior to this one in every way".
First of all, I read some of the articles online. So even though they were good (e.g. the one about bugs), they weren't new. And they would be more interesting for someone less knowledgeable. The way the book is crafted counts on reactions of surprise and disbelief of the reader. More often than not, it's pulled off smoothly. But if you know a bit about the topic, the magic vanishes.
For example, when the book tells you "because of saccadic masking, you are effectively blind for 40 minutes a day" you are expected to go "OH WOW REALLY? You must be kidding me!" If instead you think "well yeah, that's hardly surprising", the rest of the text suddenly loses its impact.
And last but not least, some chapters really seem to be a bit of a stretch. Sure, they may be based on facts. But the 'scientific' implications outlined are sometimes questionable at best.
So the final verdict? It isn't a bad read. In spite of these shortcomings, I might still recommend it. If you like Cracked's style and sense of humour, by all means, go ahead.
However: first read Everything is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway, also an author at Cracked. The book is thematically less diverse, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. As You Might be a Zombie itself says in the Credits section: Brockway's book "is infinitely superior to this one in every way".