Max Brooks has created a book that is at once funny and scary, meticulously detailed yet never boring, and unique but uses the approach of civil defense survivalist manuals as well as draws on zombie literature and other media.
The small book, a manageable 254 pages, itemizes everything you need to know about zombies and how to defend yourself, your family, and your home from them. All throughout these pages, Brooks maintains a serious mien, even citing allegedly historical data on zombie attacks from 60,000 BCE in Katanda, Central Africa to 2002 in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
In the first chapter, the author debunks myths about zombies and proceeds to explain what morphs human beings into zombies. He identifies this as a virus he calls Solanum, and from here he details the symptoms of the infection, communicability, and treatment, rather, the lack of it.
A thorough description of the characteristics and attributes of zombies follow including their outer appearance, physical abilities, and the workings of their internal organs. He says it is necessary to understand these to know their weaknesses, and thus know how to defeat them.
With this as a starting point, Brooks moves on to weapons and combat techniques. He enumerates the pros and cons the different types of weapons including bladed weapons, bows and arrows, firearms, explosives, biological, chemical, and zoological warfare materials.
Defending your home and public places is also explained, but he also gives a complete guide on what to do in case your defenses are overrun. He even provides you with guidelines on choosing the right escape vehicle.
Since it is sometimes said that the best defense is offense, Brooks does not neglect providing strategies and tactics for a successful raid on known zombie hangouts.
The book concludes with an appendix containing an Outbreak Journal where you can record sightings of the dreaded living dead including specifics and actions taken.
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