The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
Book Review: After a while, I swore the dead walked the planet.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a book all of it's own. Nothing else comes close.Why no one else before Max Brooks (son of Mel) thought of writing/compiling such a masterstroke book (including myself) is beyond my understanding given that this is such a well written and well defined set of 'do's & dont's'.
Suburbanised common sense juxtaposed with sheer and absolute abhorant terror.
The premise of the book suggests what would you do if the dead rose and proceeded to take over the world...starting with your town or city. What would you're first move be, would you stay in your house and hide in the bathroom?, what would you live on,- toothpaste?, how long would you expect to wait for help?, should you depend on yourself instead and take matters into your own hands?, what weapons to use?. Should you stay put or run to the hills?, and if so what transport is best, and so on, so forth.
Think you know... you would be surprised.
In the book Max covers every eventuality even going so far as to write the book as if the dead rising was a de-facto occurance. Max backs up this thrilling revelation by way of outlining numerous zombie risings throughout history right up the late 20th century - yikes!
Speaking as a long time zombie fan, this book rocks. It not only introduces a world overrun by the living dead but thrusts you into the middle of just such an infestation of horror and sheer unadulterated mayhem, albeit with the right clothing to wear & aware of the wrong places to be. This is a tour de force companion to every blood soaked zombie infested schlock movie you've ever been unfortunate enough to be attacked by on a dark winters night or when you least expected it on a warm summers afternoon.
Get this book. It might just save your poor pityful life!, and give you a tongue-n-cheek thrill while you're at it.
Brilliant!
Brilliant!
Brilliant!
Keth
(This is one of the few books I've ever awarded five stars. I gave it five stars not for it's command of English language or it's literary sweeping. Instead, it deserves every star for it's sheer A-z steadfastness. Like one of the living dead dragging it's self towards you, this book is solid, unremitting and unflinching.
....and totally dependible like a good machette.
Book Review: Better than resident evil
Summary: 5 Stars
I love zombies, i love killing zombies (in games) i love zombie films and i love this book. the writer should tell resident evil makers how a zombie game should play. the book tells you where to go if zombies do rise, how to kill them etc. it is gruseome describing everything from how zombies kill to the zombie digestive system(it doesnt have one). rotting flesh, shot guns, chainsaws and abandond shopping centers its all good.Book Review: Fascinating... entirely stupid, but fascinating...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is like reading a guidebook for a Role Playing Game that has never been written. I couldn't put it down. I was completely hooked, even though the whole thing is just DAFT, a guide to surviving in an arbitrary fictional future? I mean, how are you going to cope if horse chestnuts suddenly take over the world?Great book. Great idea. Wish I'd thought of it. The best bit is really the list and descriptions of outbreaks throughout history, that all feels awfully real.
Book Review: Use your head: cut off theirs.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the SAS survival guide for the gore fan! Well written and full of in depth advice for the hardcore zombie fan. By the end of the chapter "on the defence", you will be walking round your house/flat seeing how secure it is from a zombie attack!If the dead rise, you will be ready!
Book Review: borderline brilliant
Summary: 4 Stars
In the vein of a traditional, realistic survival guide or the U.S. Army handbook comes Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide". Max Brooks gives exhaustive detail on what exactly a zombie is, what weapons to use, and in general just how to survive a zombie attack. Even though "The Zombie Survival Guide" is typically catalogued in the "humor" section of the bookstore, Max Brooks plays this seriously. At no point in this book is there any impression given that this is not fact and that this topic is one that should be taken very, very seriously. Brooks begins with the how Zombies are created and what it is the causes the reanimation. Apparently it is a drug/chemical called Solanum. When Solanum is entered into the blood stream (which can happen from a bite, or from being sprayed by infected blood) it leads to death but the Solanum then causes reanimation into a zombie. Brooks discusses various facts and misconceptions about zombies. For example, zombies do not have superhuman strength but what gives the illusion of this strength is that a zombie is unable to feel pain or get tired.
Max Brooks moves on to discuss the various weapons that can be used to combat a zombie, and this too is exhaustive. Included in the discussion are handguns, axes, rifles, assault rifles, flamethrowers, swords, pikes, fire, acid, hammers and many others that fall both inside and outside of these categories. Brooks discusses the pros and cons of each weapon (and class of weapon), just as one might hope for in an actual survival guide.
This volume also contains information about the four classes of zombie attacks which range from an isolated attack to having to live in an undead world. Anything that the reader can possibly need to know to equip himself (or herself) to survive a zombie attack is contained in this book, and make no mistake, the point of this book is survival at a basic level.
The greatest strength of this book is also its greatest flaw: Max Brooks does not wink at the reader or let the reader in on the joke. As presented, this book is factual (though widespread media coverage has been either suppressed or manipulated) and straightforward. If zombies attack, this is what you do and how you do it. The joke, of course, is that there is no such thing as a zombie. The straight forward zombie survival guide borders on being absolutely brilliant. The greatest flaw is also the fact that this book is very straight forward and dry reading. It reads like a manual, but the manual is for something that does not exist. If zombies really do exist, we'll all be in for a world of hurt.
-Joe Sherry