Probably, many readers know the blockbuster on the topic of the zombie apocalypse, "World War Z" with Brad Pitt in the title role. But not everyone knows that the author of the book on which the film of the same name was shot is the American writer Max Brooks. He also wrote several other books on the same subject. One of the most famous is the Zombie Survival Guide, released in 2003. Perhaps for connoisseurs of the genre, it is a must to study.
After all, the main topic that brought popularity to Max Brooks is zombies. The Survival Guide confirms this once again.
We will briefly talk about the information contained in it.
Description of Zombies
The “Brooks Survival Guide” begins with a description of the walking dead, or zombies. He talks about the fictitious Solanum virus, which when it enters the bloodstream of a person turns it into a very aggressive, albeit dumb, slow zombie. This happens only if the infected person bites a person - his saliva enters the bloodstream - or when blood enters an open wound.
Gives advice on a possible cure - as a rule, the only way is to very quickly amputate an injured limb. If it is impossible to do this, he offers only one way out: suicide, so as not to turn into zombies and not attack other people.
At the same time, he tells his version of why zombies, ignoring any animals, are actively attacking people.
A bit about weapons
Of course, the only way to escape and survive the zombie apocalypse is through weapons. Therefore, in the book of Max Brooks, "A Guide to Survival Among Zombies," he devoted an entire chapter.
He considers various options, starting with improvised items, like a baton, and ending with real firearms - machine guns, pistols, shotguns. In addition, he talks about rather exotic methods of destroying zombies - ordinary radiation, biological, and even nanoweapons.
At the same time, the author gives recommendations on the most justified tactics for destroying the enemy, some tricks when handling weapons, and tells about their advantages and disadvantages.
Defense, Escape and Attack
The next three chapters are called.
Accordingly, the first talks about how to withstand a prolonged siege of zombies, in the best way to equip your house or temporary shelter in order to give the enemy maximum problems during the assault. At the same time, the author considers various types of equipment that increases the chances of a person who finds himself in such a situation to survive.
From the chapter “Escape”, the reader finds out what needs to be done to quickly get out of the city infected with zombies, if no improvement is expected. At the same time, he recommends the active use of transport, characterizing various means.
Finally, the chapter "Attack" tells about a completely different tactic - if the third and fourth chapters tell only about how to survive in an extreme situation, then from the fifth you can find out what needs to be done to inflict maximum damage to the enemy, with minimum losses to clear out extensive territories from zombies. Perhaps this is of most interest to fans of the zombie apocalypse genre.
Survival in advanced cases
If the attack failed and it did not succeed in destroying all the zombies, or at least clearing significant areas of them, then Plan B comes into play. In the sixth chapter, entitled “End of the World,” Max Brooks talks about what to do if humanity finds itself in Reservations extremely limited in area and available resources.
The whole world is captured by the walking dead, armies destroyed, states no longer exist. Survivors, gathered in tiny colonies, are forced to take care of themselves - grow food, get water, cope with diseases and, of course, repel regular attacks from zombies.
A very pessimistic scenario aimed at maximizing the survival of human settlements cut off from large forces (if any exist) and surrounded by hordes of walking corpses.
Pseudo-documentary
Finally, the last chapter is a selection of documents telling about when, where, and how humanity was exposed to outbreaks of the zombie virus.
Referring to serious documents and studies of prominent scientists, Max Brooks says that the first zombie apocalypse occurred in Central Africa about 60 thousand years ago. But at the same time he admits that the reliability of this event is in doubt.
But in Ancient Egypt, such an outbreak took place in the III millennium BC - there is a large amount of written evidence.
Of course, all the documents, studies, works and writers that the author writes about are completely invented. This technique is used to give the atmosphere to the book.
Valuable Tips
Well, at the end of the book of Max Brooks "Guide to Survival Among Zombies" there is an application consisting of ten tips that should help the person who read them to survive in the midst of the uprising of the walking dead.
To begin with, he recommends stocking up with supplies - medicines, food, products, matches, flashlights and, of course, weapons.
There is also advice to stay away from enclosed spaces - it’s easier to defend here, but there is no possibility of retreating, which can lead to death or infection during a bite.
In case of forced contact with zombies, the author recommends not hesitation to hit the head to hit the brain. Only this allows you to immediately destroy the enemy.
There are other tips that will surely help you survive when the dead suddenly rise and try to eat the living.