Bookworms: The Zombie Survival Guide (2003) by Max Brooks

Sam Flynn: “What am I supposed to do?” Siren: “Survive.” –TRON: Legacy 

Max Brooks, author of the hugely successful World War Z*, wrote the complete guide to staying alive during an outbreak of zombies: The Zombie Survival Guide. From attack to zombie, Brooks covers every conceivable angle in his quest to help his reader avoid death and reanimation. Assuming that zombies exist, and have throughout human history, and that at any moment an outbreak or all out apocalypse is not only possible but likely inevitable, Brooks’ book makes it easy to be prepared for survival.

Section One, “The Undead: Myths and Realities” defines Brooks terms and definitions. Zombies, according to the manual, are seldom understood and are often mis-categorized. Popular culture has their own ideas, the word zombie itself refers to various things, some of them religious, and most people do not want to acknowledge the horrific reality of the undead.

For this reason, a thorough understanding of just what a zombie is becomes crucial to survival. Brooks begins with an examination of the zombie virus, called solanum. There is an explanation of how the virus works which leads to a discussion of the physical state of the zombie and their “lifestyle”. [Author’s note: Brooks is clearly in the slow zombie camp. I find it curious that the upcoming film adaptation of World War Z seems to feature fast zombies.] Also, in this section is a breakdown of the potential scale of a zombie outbreak, from local and small to world wide calamity. I found Brooks’ explanation of how his zombies work, via the virus, to be interesting, but hardly groundbreaking or new in terms of zombie culture.

Virus X does Y and the result is Z(ombies). His zombies, as I’ve said, are the fairly standard slow, shambling, moaning zombie that has become the classic zombie of the genre. What I most liked in this section was his scaling of zombie outbreaks. The thesis statement of the book is that one can never be sure they have completely eradicated all zombies in an outbreak. The difficulty in searching urban environments to a general lack of ability to completely account for the reanimation of the dead leads to subsequent outbreaks. Therefore, for Brooks, it only takes one unaccounted for zombie to spark another outbreak. This was something I haven’t before encountered in the zombie genre, most films and books either start with a total apocalypse, or end up there. I like the idea of a recurring “plague” of sorts.

Once the dead rise, there are two ultimate options: kill, or be killed. Section Two, “Weapons and Combat Techniques” covers everything from arrows to zoological warfare. If you’ve read the Zombie Combat Manual**, or similar books, there is little new information here, though Brooks’ sheer level of detail is certainly impressive. Unlike the aforementioned combat manual, which only focused on non-ammunition weapons, Brooks assumes everything can be a weapon. He works through every type and class of firearm, fire itself, and even unconventional weapons (for the zombie genre) such as acid, poison, or electrocution. I found this section a bit tedious, to be honest, but the Guide covers every conceivable option.

Being ready to fight is only the beginning. A good offense can only be mounted when there is a solid defense in place. Section Three, “On the Defense” discusses every aspect of building a bulwark between the human and the former-human. Again, keeping in mind the severity of the outbreak, there are recommendations for how to properly fortify your own home (in the case of a small, or distant outbreak) and when to leave your home (in the case of a local, or large outbreak). Also, included are directions on how to fortify other structures the survivalist may encounter, or choose to inhabit, and even how to build a fortification from scratch (should the need arise).

I was fascinated by this section, and I even found myself looking around my apartment and noting the pros and cons of securing it should zombies outbreak near me. I have positive factors in my favor in that I live in a second story apartment, but have negative factors in my many windows and lack of multiple exits. Also, my stairs are hard to destroy as they are integrated into the structural integrity of the entire building. Brooks insists the ability to destroy stairways is a very big factor in whether or not one can survive in an apartment or multi-floored building (apparently zombies are bad climbers).

No matter how secure or convenient a fortification is, at some point, given the progression of an outbreak, it will become necessary to abandon home and flee for the hills. Section Four, “On the Run”, of the Survival Guide covers not only how one should travel, but it what direction, for how long, and what cargo should be included. Fuel is a consumable resource, and most vehicles are noisy (zombies are attracted to sound) so cars are given their due, but with appropriate caution. Everything else from bikes to horses to boats are mentioned, and while nothing is ruled out, Brooks is careful to consider all the factors, positive and negative that accompany each possible means of transport. For instance, boats may seem like a good idea to avoid zombies, but what about supplies, space, and pirates? Anything can be a good idea, but must be fit to the circumstances and the environment.

The world is round, and a survivor who runs long enough will eventually return to their starting point. Should zombies still infest, standing ground and fighting may be the only option that ensures continued survival. Section Five, “On the Attack” is a bit of a recap of section two, but furthers the discussion by laying out how one should use their arsenal. Terrain, transportation (building off of section four), and tactics are all factored in. Written by and for the non-combat expert, this section gives the reader a fairly good introduction into warfare, albeit war tailored for the undead. Brooks assumes that a military trained individual, once educated on the nature of his foe, would be able to foment a formidable strategy. For the rest of us whose only exposure to stratagems is watching movies, this is a good, realistic run-down of how to structure a battle.

But, what if your defenses crumble, there is nowhere left to run, and the battle never ends? What if you are “Living in an Undead World”? Section six is all about survival in the most extreme of circumstances. Brooks talks about how to rebuild society, how to choose companions, and what to do if humanity is no longer the top predator in the world. I thought that this section was one too many for the Zombie Survival Guide. Almost everything that Brooks brings up in this section was covered in one of the other sections, and while his incredible attention to detail throughout the book is commendable, after a while it made the book feel long and tedious. I forced myself to finish this section, and did so mostly by skimming.

Without a doubt, after slogging through more details than I ultimately was ready for, I thoroughly enjoyed the last section of the book, a collection of “Recorded Attacks” arranged chronologically from 60,000 B.C. to the Present Day. Placing zombies in antiquity, and providing accounts of attacks that read like ancient journals or annals of history is a stroke of brilliance. I always love when an author does something new, and a period zombie story is very under done. For shock value and ease of production, most zombie films occur in the present day or near future. A glimpse of zombies rampaging around during the Middle Ages is pure fun. And I wasn’t the only one to think so. This part of the Survival Guide was so popular that Max Brooks expanded it into a graphic novel, The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.

Overall, the Zombie Survival Guide was incredibly thorough and very enjoyable, despite feeling a tad long and tedious. If you die during a real zombie outbreak, it would only be because the situation is entirely different than Max Brooks could have ever imagined, or you ignored his advice because it was too detailed to read through. Either way, the secret to survival is simple: be prepared, and such a guide can help.

 

*Read a review of World War Z here, written by NerdSpan’s own Shanna Kopcsik.

** You can read my review of the Zombie Combat Manual by Roger Ma.

 

Related posts: