The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks is a fantastic book that teaches you everything you need to know and what to do in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse. The book is a little too much like a textbook, but the information inside it makes sense and is a lot of fun to learn.

The Zombie Survival Guide has a main section, then 3 sections to read depending on whether you will be on the attack, on the defense, or on the run. There is also a section of how to rebuild society if the zombies become the dominant race on earth.

Let's start with what's in the main section. This is basically anything that will be needed when you are on the run, on the attack, or on the defense. This section includes a description of what a zombie is, how the zombie disease (it is a disease) is transferred, and how to avoid infection. This section also includes what weapons (yes, more than one) you will need to defend yourself. This includes hand weapons, such as hammers, hatchets, and crowbars. This section also includes guns, such as automatic machine guns, semiautomatic machine guns, semiautomatic carbines, pistols, sniper rifles, and assault rifles. The ideal choice is a semiautomatic carbine that fires on bullet per pull of the trigger. Also, get one with a large magazine. Running out of bullets in the event of a zombie swarm is not good. Also, only headshots. If you shoot a zombie anywhere except its head, it doesn't even notice. The zombies disease makes the brain independent of any other organs, making destroying it the only way to "kill" a zombie.

The next 3 sections (On The Run, On The Defense, and On The Attack) are basically things you need to know I depending on your zombie evasion or destruction strategy. If you are going to be a zombie hunter, you need to read "On The Attack" but if you are going to attempt to stay away from zombies, read "On The Run." Personally, my favorite section is "On The Defense," which teaches you how to fortify your house of a public building.

The last chapter is one of extreme importance. "Living in a Zombie World" will teach you what to do if the zombies prevail over the humans and are the dominant species on earth. You will have to find a place in the middle of nowhere and rebuild society one generation at a time. If you do this correctly though (finding a place truly in the middle of nowhere), you should never even see a zombie.

In the end, this book is classified as humor. There is no real application of it, but it is a quick read of only about 280 pages. I read it in about 5 days, but I had 10 hours on an airplane. The only problem with this book is that it is very like a textbook. If you don't like reading about physics in science class, this isn't a book for you. It is worded extremely similarly to a science textbook. I would give this book a 9 out of 10. Not for ages below 11.