The Zombie Survival Guide

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Zombie Walk in Moscow, 2009; The Zombie Survival Guide is designed to prepare the reader for a zombie apocalypse and help them survive.

The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead is a humorous and apocalyptic fictional guide by Max Brooks published in 2003, which is supposed to enable survival during a zombie epidemic and after the zombie apocalypse. Defense, escape and attack strategies as well as weapons and vehicles and their use for survival are presented in detail in several chapters. The book is the predecessor to the interview novel Operation Zombie: Who Lives Longer, Is Dead Later , which was filmed under the title World War Z.

content

Formal structure and general

After an introduction, the book is formally divided into seven unnumbered main sections with numerous sub-chapters. The main chapters are as follows:

  • The Undead: Myth and Reality
  • Weapons and fighting techniques
  • About defense
  • On the run
  • About the attack
  • Life in the world of the undead
  • Traditional attacks

The entire book is written in the form of a manual and provides background information and detailed instructions for the various situations described. However, all parts of the book are fictional, describing the fictions presented as real representations and options.

content

In terms of content, the book is devoted to the topics presented in the chapter headings:

The Undead: Myth and Reality

Zombies at the Asbury Park Zombie Walk 2010; these zombies are modeled after Hollywood zombies.

In the first chapter, the author presents the background to zombies and the zombie apocalypse, making a distinction between the zombie myth and the reality that applies to the framework of the book. The author makes it clear that the zombie “is not the work of 'black magic' or another supernatural power”, but rather arises from a virus infection with the Solanum virus discovered by Jan Vanderhaven . This virus, the origin of which is unknown, attacks the brain of the infected person and leads to a typical course of the disease that leads to death over several stages with corresponding symptoms after 20 hours and to resuscitation as a zombie after a further 3 hours. The author describes in detail the contagion and (impossible) treatment of the infected as well as their characteristics and behavior as zombies. It also delineates the “voodoo zombies” created by voodoo magic and the Hollywood zombies, which are primarily used for entertainment, from the real zombies. The different phases of the epidemic and their detection are also shown.

Weapons and Combat Techniques
According to the title, this chapter deals primarily with the various combat techniques and weapons with which the reader can assert himself against the undead. The chapter provides detailed descriptions for close and long-range combat against zombies and, in addition to cutting , stabbing and firearms, also describes numerous electrical devices that have been converted into weapons, the use of fire and other aids and the use of various armaments from classic plate armor to modern shark defense diving suits.

About the defense
The following section about the defense is mainly about strategies for defense against attacks by the undead. Above all, strategies for the survival and defense of houses, apartments and other buildings are described, but the chapter also describes the construction, expansion and defense of fortresses in military installations, prisons and other well-equipped facilities through to oil drilling platforms .

On the run
In the chapter On the run the author describes the preparations and implementation of an escape from a zombie-infested area to a safe destination. He presents the preparations and training as well as the packing list that must be taken into account for a successful or at least possible escape. The main part of the chapter consists of descriptions of different means of transport with their advantages and disadvantages in different types of terrain. For example, the author recommends never using four-wheeled transport in a city, as the probability of blocked roads is very high. Hiding places as well as the advantages and disadvantages of different terrains are discussed, as well as means of transport for the air and water with the respective instructions on how to behave.

About the attack
This chapter describes in detail various strategies for attacking smaller and larger groups of the undead. Equipment for attack and defense is also shown, with a particular focus on attacks in buildings. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of terrain for attack combat are described as well as hunting strategies from tank attacks to air strikes, attracting strategies and trapping methods.

Living in the World of the Undead
The final guide article deals with survival strategies in a post-apocalyptic world after a major zombie epidemic. It describes the principles of behavior in order to survive in this world as unnoticed as possible and to build a life after the epidemic.

Narrated attacks
The last chapter of the book describes numerous documented cases of zombie epidemics in world history from 60,000 years BC in Central Africa to the recent past around 2002 on the Virgin Island of Saint Thomas .

The final appendix is ​​intended to serve as the basis for an epidemic diary and calls for the analysis and follow-up of even the smallest signs of a possible epidemic.

dedication

The author dedicates the book to his parents and his wife Michelle Kholos , whom he married in the year of publication.

reception

The author Max Brooks at Wizard World-Texas , 2008

The Zombie Survival Guide was the first book by the author Max Brooks and therefore his first to deal with the zombie topic. He carries this out in the 2006 novel Operation Zombie: Who Lives Longer Is Dead Later , which traces a zombie epidemic solely on the basis of fictional interviews with a UN employee in a discontinuous story. World War Z, directed by Marc Forster , starring Brad Pitt and Mireille Enos in 2013 is based on the book Operation Zombie , but is based on an actual storyline during an epidemic.

A film version of The Zombie Survival Guide is also being planned, but a release date has not yet been set.

expenditure

original
  • Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide. Three Rivers Press, New York City 2003, ISBN 1-4000-4962-8 .
German

supporting documents

  1. "The Undead: Myth and Reality." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 17 ff.
  2. "Weapons and Combat Techniques." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 51 ff.
  3. "About the Defense." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 95 ff.
  4. "On the run." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 131 ff.
  5. "About the attack." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 167 ff.
  6. "Living in the world of the undead." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 201 ff.
  7. "Narrated attacks." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 235 ff.
  8. "Appendix." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead. P. 311 ff.
  9. "Dedication." In: Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide - Survival among the undead.
  10. World War Z in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  11. The Zombie Survival Guide in the Internet Movie Database (English)