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A review by raegancihammers
The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks
4.0
The Zombie Survival Guide. Pretty Sweet. I picked it up to satisfy a craving for World War Z (Brooks' second zombie book, published after ZSG), which I read last year. Not surprisingly, Zombie Survial Guide paled in comparison. Thinking back, most of the books I read in 2010 - fiction and non-fiction of all genres and styles and topics - paled in comparison to World War Z. That book is a tour de force. But we all know that and are to discuss The Zombie Survival Guide...not WWZ (but seriously...if you haven't read it...Go. Read. It. Now.)
So Max Brooks, in this book of how to survive in the world of the walking dead, solidifies the zombie mythology into fact, science, and history. He claims that the urban legends of zombie attacks we all know and love are based on actual events and our collective world history is permeated with similar stories that are tied to well known and obscure historical events. Brooks provides a chronological recounting of these anecdotes which take up the last 75 pages or so. I found this the most compelling portion of the book.
The first 175 pages consist of clearly defining what real zombies are (and are not), how they differ from the voodoo zombies and hollywood zombies. Brooks claims that the walking dead are humans who have been inflected by the virus Solanum, die from the virus, and reanimate as human-hungry ghouls. Brooks then carefully describes how to survive various levels of outbreak based on their severity, the tools and supplies you will need, how to protect your home, survive while on the run, and how to start a new life should the worst-case scenario become reality.
Interestingly, The Zombie Survival Guide is categorized as a "humor" book. While yes, the topic is absurd when taken literally, the seriousness with which Brooks writes and discusses survival in a collapsing/imploding contemporary society allows the reader to easily imagine similar scenes playing out in the not too distant future. Scarcity of fossil fuels, food, water, or an unstoppable biological plague and I think the world may look very similar to the one Brooks describes.
So four stars. The how-to stuff got a little dry, but couldn't even ruin this book for me. It is apocalyptic fodder. And its extremely well done.
So Max Brooks, in this book of how to survive in the world of the walking dead, solidifies the zombie mythology into fact, science, and history. He claims that the urban legends of zombie attacks we all know and love are based on actual events and our collective world history is permeated with similar stories that are tied to well known and obscure historical events. Brooks provides a chronological recounting of these anecdotes which take up the last 75 pages or so. I found this the most compelling portion of the book.
The first 175 pages consist of clearly defining what real zombies are (and are not), how they differ from the voodoo zombies and hollywood zombies. Brooks claims that the walking dead are humans who have been inflected by the virus Solanum, die from the virus, and reanimate as human-hungry ghouls. Brooks then carefully describes how to survive various levels of outbreak based on their severity, the tools and supplies you will need, how to protect your home, survive while on the run, and how to start a new life should the worst-case scenario become reality.
Interestingly, The Zombie Survival Guide is categorized as a "humor" book. While yes, the topic is absurd when taken literally, the seriousness with which Brooks writes and discusses survival in a collapsing/imploding contemporary society allows the reader to easily imagine similar scenes playing out in the not too distant future. Scarcity of fossil fuels, food, water, or an unstoppable biological plague and I think the world may look very similar to the one Brooks describes.
So four stars. The how-to stuff got a little dry, but couldn't even ruin this book for me. It is apocalyptic fodder. And its extremely well done.