Friday, April 15, 2011

Intermittant Read: The Zombie Survival Guide (Max Brooks)



This spring has been chaotic (hosting a student teacher & working on a master's research paper), so I've found myself intermittently reading The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. He's also the author of WWZ (World War Zombie) which is slotted to be made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. The Zombie Survival Guide is meant as a companion to WWZ and is meant as a comical survival guide modeled after the many military guidebooks put out to help personnel prepare for various survival and war-time situations (think Field Manuals).

The Survival Guide covers how to prepare for various terrain (and which terrain to avoid at all costs), the best weapons and the best strategies for survival (not heroics!). The pictures are amusing and very reminiscent of the Army Field Manuals' cheesy depictions. However, instead of covering operations of dealing with terrorism or chemical warfare, the operations discuss the best methods for evading zombies (AKA ghouls) and the author even brings in some "first-hand" accounts to help explain why the guide suggest various tactics or weapons.

While some might find the idea of a zombie apocalypse terrifying or comical, the book is great for a mental evaluation of what anyone could/should do in any sort of chaotic every-woman-for-herself type situation. It's a fun little mental test to decide how prepared you would be if things "got real." And the truth be told, when I'm usually busy thinking about grammar research and lesson plans, sometimes I just like to envision myself as "Alice" from Resident Evil to take that brief trip from reality.