I think I'm the wrong person to be reading this book. For one thing I actually do take an interest in surviving zombie outbreaks and so have a bit more knowledge than most people who read this book will have. For another I believe all these books are flawed. But I'll get onto that in a minute.
Factually this book isn't bad. If you follow the rules set out in it you'll probably survive or at least take a good few zombies with you. There are a few slight mistakes though. For one it lists graveyards as being a temporally safe place to rest. While I have no problem with the logic that the chances of a zombie managing to rise from the grave are slight, graveyards to me still seem to be large open spaces were you can probably been seen. It may just be me. I live in Scotland. Maybe graveyards are different in America.
Which is another problem. This book is set in America and so assumes you'll have some sort of gun lying around the place. It goes on at length whether it is best to use a bolt-action rifle or a semi-automatic rifle. We don't have access to guns here. This means that about half the weapons section is useless.
I say half because there is a good list of melee weapons and a bit about their benefits and drawbacks. It comes to the wrong conclusion when it says that a crowbar is the best weapon (it's actually an icepick) but again, by following these rules you're likely to live longer than if you ran around aimlessly. He seems to want to cover all eventualities and so also includes the use of acid, biological warfare and radiation. Just where you'd get this stuff is unclear, especially as Brooks states at the start that you aren't to break any laws. Which is rubbish in itself, at least for the reasons he gives. He says it's so you don't get a criminal record (fair enough) but goes on to say that it's also so that if a plague of zombies do come the police won't see your criminal record and hence be less likely to listen to you. It may just be me but if I was a police officer then I'd be more likely to listen to someone who has been preparing to tackle the zombie in a serious capacity for a long time than some civilian bossing everyone around who I've never heard of. Then again, not breaking the law is good.
To round the book off nicely it included documented zombie attacks throughout the ages. These were very entertaining, as most things including zombies must be. Of course you could tell that these were made up as some fitted together and some were just perfect examples of what he'd been saying earlier. Which is, I guess, what most of my problem is with this book.
It's all just fiction.
Now I don't really believe that an outbreak of zombies is likely. Not in any way. But if it was then this book wouldn't be the most helpful. It's not that the advice it gives isn't good. Truth be told it's too good. No one just picking up the book will follow any of it. It's too hardcore. For example the list of weapons that he recommends you keep for anti-zombie home defence. It runs as follows;
- Rifle, 500 rounds
- Shotgun, twelve-gauge, 250 shells
- Pistol, .45 caliber, 250 rounds
- Silencer, (rifle)
- Silencer, (pistol)
- Heavy crossbow, (in lieu of silencers), 150 bolts
- Telescopic sight (rifle)
- Night-vision scope (rifle)
- Laser sight (rifle)
- Laser sight (pistol)
- Katana sword
- Wakizashi or other short blade sword
- Two knives with smooth, six-eight inch blades
- Hand hatchet
Which is quite a substantial armoury for one person and probably a pain to manage.
There are a few other things like this but for what it is, this book is good. It gives exactly what it sets out to give and is an enjoyable read. But if zombies are gnawing on the door then it probably won't be any help to you. I'd give it a six out of ten.
Now I'm off to do more revision and buy an icepick. Good luck surviving.
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