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The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead | 
| Author: Max Brooks
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £6.99
You Save: £2.00 (22%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 949
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 071563318X
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN: 9780715633182
ASIN: 071563318X
Publication Date: August 27, 2004
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean... November 20, 2008
Even the blurb says it: You start reading for fun, fifty pages into it, you buy a machete, just to be sure...
And it's true. This is a book I would easily NOT give to someone easily influenced or otherwise instable, because, well, it is so convincing that some of people may pass the funny bits right by without ever noticing it's comedy. If anything in our day and age ever had "War of the Worlds" written all over it, it is this absolute treasure.
Having said that, there is, of course, a limit to the amount of lists of items to bring on various zombie-related expeditions you can take in in one evening. Thus, this book is probably one you will pick up again and again rather than read in one go. This applied particularly to the middle section of the book, whereas the "scientific" analysis of zombie background, physiology and behavioural patterns at the beginning is a real page-turner.
For me, however, the biggest surprise came at the end of the book. From the table of contents, I expected a mere listing of "recorded" zombie attacks with little or no entertainment value. Turns out, I was VERY far off the mark. What I found were tiny little stories, each one self-contained but also (and this was the most fun for me) also inter-related at times. What Brooks created in this way was an extremely realistic history of zombie attacks from the earliest days of human civilisation to, pretty much, last Wednesday. When you put down the book, you do so with a shudder that is just this tiny bit south of comfortable.
On a personal note: If you are into roleplaying games or just enjoy telling stories - that last section of the book is full of interesting adventure hooks and story ideas. Just a thought... Full marks from me!
A Must-Have for Every Zombie Fanatic October 23, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If the Nostradamus quatrain that says "the dead will rise from their graves" makes you nervous, then you should read this book.
I wonder how long it took Brooks to do the research for the book - he obviously knows his weapons, etc. because eveything is so extrememly detailed. The history of zombie sightings in the back is so interesting that he could have sold that section as a separate book. Once you've read the Sruvival Guide, you should also read World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.
My Dad did three tours in Vietnam, and he remembers coming across one of the areas mentioned in the history section (I bought ten copies to give to various family & friends); he said they purposely took the long way around the area because his entire unit was getting the creeps - they all agreed there was something unnnatural in the area...maybe it was zombies left over from the previous incident mentioned in the book?
History buffs will also recognize some of the other dates/places, such as the missing Roanoke colony, or the fort in Africa with the hundreds of skeletons.
Even if you've never bought into the theory of zombies before, you will think differently after reading this book. Don't let the humor label fool you - it is a very serious premise.
 It served it perpouse, and gave me a good read. October 4, 2008
I'm glad I looked into the product before buying, as I'm seeing alot of dissapointed customers in some aspects.
I actually bought this book as an assistant source for an RPG, though I found it quite enjoyable. It was obvious that the "true stories", wern't true stories, its written as if the world sufferd an undead plauge and this is supposed to help. Its all about perspective.
The cover has been updated in the same style as World War Z. Unfortunatly it doesn't work as well, maybe some white blood splats would liven it up.
World War Z: White, with red blood splats.
ZSG: plain Red.
A little dissapointed there, but its fine.
 Reading for the average Zombie? August 7, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I read this book before reading World War Z, that book is a very good horror story and I rather regret reading this book before the other since it added little to it and actually made some parts worse (the explanation of the Solan Virus). Skip this one and go straight to World War Z which is good.
This is a spin on survival guides. How to live in a Zombie infested world, and how to notice the first signs of an invasion of the living dead. Plus a little cronicle at the end covering zombie outbreaks.
On the whole a bland reading. It has its good bits and parts but never really gets going.
As a survival guide it is o.k. and has some clever observations and would be an excellent sourcebook for role play.
As an instruction on zombie behavior... not brilliant for a zombie is best not overexplained, similar as the Force in Star Wars - clever concept before the introduction of Midi-chlorians. And the part explaining the difference between regluar Solan Zombies and Tahitian would have been better omitted.
The last part of the book has to do with Zombie outbreaks and here the author could have tried a little harder with his background. Some of the stories are o.k. but many are not and all could have been better with a little more work. I am Icelandic and the part where Icelanders settled Greenland is clever but marred by details like very unicelandic names etc.
On the whole this book wasn't easy to complete, my interest in the book constanly lessened but a few highlights kept me going. It certainly is no book to rave about.
I wrote a book because of this! July 21, 2008
It's true, i read this and loved the idea, although the book i wrote ended up nothing like this or what i thought it would; i'm pleased with it though so check out Deathday while you're here, by me, Eugene Bruce thanks
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