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1. Max Brooks World War Z

Printed in the United States of America Design by Debbie Glasserman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bro oks, Max. The zombie survi val guide: complete protection from the li ving dead / Max Brooks.

Z o m b i e s — H u m o r. Z 6 5 B 7 6 2 0 0 3 8 1 8 '. 6 0 2 — d c 2 1 2 0 0 2 1 5 5 3 7 0 ISBN 1-4000-4962-8 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition.

This excellent guide will prepare you as well as any book can. The realities of an outbreak of the Solanum-infected is something that will test your physical and psychological limits. However-and with apologies to Mr. Brooks for using this space to editorialize-the only way we can fully prepare, is for the government to finally make the recorded incidents available for public scrutiny and analysis.

I know from bitter experience how ill-prepared local, state, and federal authorities are to deal with these outbreaks. It is only a matter of time before containment and cover-up are shown-up for the pathetic band-aid type responses they are; and we have a full-scale infestation that will have to be dealt with by the clueless.

The incident I experienced wasn't covered in the book, which is very surprising, considering how recent it was, the number of people involved, and the fact that it resulted in the death-among many others-of a former Cosby kid. At least a few of Mr. Brook's sources would surely have know about the events in and around Black Creek, Wisconsin in October of 1998.

My involvement began when I was pulled off the site of my security supervisor position at a nearby Department of Energy facility to support a county SWAT team dealing with a 'civil disturbance'. This type of order was unheard of, yet me and a few others with sniper training had to respond. This isn't the place for a long narrative, yet I need to give some sort of public account. Screw my security oath; I also took an oath to protect the United States from enemies foreign and domestic, and the only way to do that, I'm convinced, is to reveal the truth. Long story as short as possible: a charter flight out of Canada went down in the dense woods surrounding the unincorporated town of Black Creek, and we were given vague instructions to set up a perimeter around that locus and stop, by whatever means necessary, anyone attempting to leave the area. We all thought it was a training exercise and were joking around when the first of 'them' lurched out of the woods.

You can guess what happened. Our perimeter soon became an inner perimeter as we ourselves were hemmed in, engaged in the fight of our lives. 18 horrifying and surreal hours later, huddled in an abandoned grist mill, the remains of our group were rescued by troops from Fort McCoy.

The incident was covered up. Civilians as well as law enforcement and military personnel were threatened into silence, and I can only assume the press was as well. I am aware of some attempts at lawsuits still going on, but I think those are doomed to fail.

Had we had even a fraction of the knowledge contained in this guide-or even knew the nature of the enemy we battled-we would have fared so much better, and many good people would still be alive. The advice in the book is solid, although I have a few thoughts of my own based on my experiences: I don't agree that edged weapons are superior to bludgeons. Blades will stick, splatter. I've bought three copies of this book, one for myself and two as gifts for friends. They both loved it, and so did I. So here I am to recommend it.

Max Brooks World War Z

The Zombie Survival Guide is a notoriously difficult book to classify. It would be laughed at if it were shelved with other 'survival' books, yet it doesn't seem to fit in with humour because it's not technically funny. It's a parody.

Therein lies the humour. It probably won't have you in stitches (no pun intended), since the book is written 'with a straight face' on something that (if it were real) would be an extremely gory and disturbing subject. If you can appreciate this book as a parody.well, you won't be laughing out loud, but you'll be highly amused and very entertained. Basically, this book is a very entertaining parody of survival books that happens to use one of the old horror stand-bys: zombie hoards.

Let's be honest: would most of us know the first thing about how to survive if we woke up one day to see the walking dead at our doorstep moaning for our sweet, sweet brains? Sadly, the answer is a resounding NO. This book details the basics of what every person who values their lives - and their brains - should know about surviving a zombie attack: which weapons work and which ones don't, what supplies should be a priority, which buildings make good shelters, historical records of past zombie attacks, terrain types, as well as tactics for being barricaded in your home, on the run, partaking in zombie hunting, or - should the unthinkable happen - hiding out as the undead hoards sweep across the Earth. The Zombie Survival Guide won't guarentee your survival, but it will certainly give you an advantage over the poor shmuck who doesn't even know to shoot for the head. The only real con about this book comes up if you buy it expecting a laugh-out-loud humour book.

If so, look elsewhere. This is a parody that never strays from its serious demeanor.

Not to scare anyone off; it's quite readable, and has enough of a coloquial feel to appeal to the average civilian. It's an amusing parody and an enjoyable read, but the book doesn't wink-wink-nudge-nudge the reader or go for one-liners and laughs.

The pros are simple: it's a higly enjoyable parody of survival books, with an extremely cool topic. If you're a zombie movie buff, this book will let you smirk at your superior knowledge of zombie-fighting tactics when the idiots in the movies wouldn't know a zombie if it bit them. (Alright, THAT pun was intended.) If you're looking for a good reference book about survival tactics and the like, this is a readable variation that's probably more entertaining than most. (The lists of gear to carry seem pretty logical in ANY dire situation.) Yet even if you read the book and fully accept it as a parody, it still has a way of getting to you.

You'll find yourself idly wondering if you have enough food in your house to last through a seige, or whether you should invest in a machete and a shotgun. I picked up this book expected to chuckle. I thoght it would be along the lines of the Worse Case books. It starts out with that droll, almost English tounge in cheek humor and rapidly gets serious.

It's obvious Max Brooks did some research. Everything you ever wanted to know about zombie lore plus a dollop of human history and nature is thrown in. The first half of the book talks about dealing with a class 1 through 4 zombie outbreak and offers advice such as don't go down in the basement, don't go to the hospital-there's dead and dying folks there to begin with, keep moving, don't let the zombie get close enough to touch you, and keep quiet until you reach safety. The second half describes recorded attacks from ancient time until today and it's actually scary. If Max Brooks ever decides to write straight horror fiction I'll buy it. The story about the slave ship full of zombies gave me genuine chills. Another very amusing and clever touch is the way Brooks never breaks away from the tone of the book.

The dedication, introduction, about the author page and acknowlegement pages all stick to the book's theme. All in all, I'm delighted with this book. It's funny and scary and that is very difficult to pull off. Head to your secure location, turn the lights down, turn the radio off and read this little thriller. Max Brooks, take a bow! These are precarious times in which we live. And as such, there have been a great many 'survival'-type titles on the bookshelves.

Most of these field texts don't give you anything but a mouthful of Greek salad when it comes to protection from the undead. Fortunately, Brooks addresses every possible zombie issue in his useful manual against the reanimated. From terrain, weapons, fortifications and vehicle selection to sensory characteristics of the living dead, Brooks leaves no headstone unturned.

His thoroughness is your critical advantage over the panicked masses when the dead rise. For example, I thought that my ATC Vietnam tomahawk would be sufficient primary protection. The manual has made me aware that although my weapon of choice has the skull penetrating power required, it is only effective in close combat against a small number of undead adversaries. Thus, I have supplemented my equipment with a Hammerli Trailside.22 rimfire pistol, a Barnett RC-150 crossbow, and a titanium crowbar.

The logbook at the end of the manual has been particularly useful, as I have recorded one incident in my vicinity already - a bar fight in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where two victims were bitten by a shambling, 'homeless-looking' man. One man died on the way to the hospital and the other succumbed to a blood infection 24 hours later. Families of the victims are pursuing legal action against the hospital because the attending physician had both bodies 'accidentally cremated'.My one critique is with one particular sentence in the manual, where Brooks equates an 'aged' steak as one that has begun to rot, attacked by microbes like all dead flesh. This analogy has put me off red meat for the last month. Perhaps that is a positive thing.