The Zombie Survival Guide: Part 1: The Undead: Myths and Realities

Folks, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve finally picked up a copy of the Max Brooks text, The Zombie Survival Guide, and I have not been disappointed. I have only just started reading the book, but I am pleased to report that it is well written, delivered with a down-to-earth tone, and very clear about both the benefits, and limitations, of what the guide has to offer.

There is a wealth of material covered in the book, and I will not even begin to try and analyze it all. I will, however, devote at least one entry to each of the seven main sections of the book, the first of which is “The Undead: Myths and Realities”.

[SOURCE OF OUTBREAK]

This first section gives the reader general information about zombie characteristics, physiology, known facts, and common misconceptions. I found this material both interesting and entertaining, but I had my reservations. The reason for my misgiving is that all of the empirical evidence and assumptions are built upon the “Solanum” virus scenario. Now, while most of the theory behind it conforms quite closely to standard zombie outbreak scenarios, it doesn’t appear to give much thought to the possibility of different viral strains emerging and producing zombies with other characteristics. While it is possible that Solanum may end up being the only instigator of an undead epidemic to materialize, that possibility seems unlikely. Further more, viral mutation is a very common phenomenon and it is hard to imagine that Solanum, or any other similar plague, would not occasionally, if not often, undergo change.

[ZOMBIE PHYSIOLOGY]

Now, that caveat aside, there are a few other points by Mr. Brooks that I would like to briefly mention. The first of which is the discussion of zombie physical attributes, specifically their senses. I believe the author does an excellent job of illustrating that, despite their unnatural state of living death, zombies have many of the same limitations as the living. In order to pursue their prey, they rely on sight and sound just like we do. When addressing the question of how zombies are able to function so effectively in darkness, Mr. Brooks makes the interesting suggestion that the undead have simply lost the dependence upon specific senses (particularly sight) that handicaps the living. Instead, it is suggested that when the undead are deprived of sight, they simply switch to relying on sound.

However, despite any absence of change in their senses of sight and sound, Mr. Brooks does suggests that the undead have a heightened sense of smell. This stems from the fairly common belief that the undead are able to smell and track the living from great distances. However, like the zombie killin’ Dr. Fell, I am a bit more dubious. Like always, I concede that anything is possible, but I personally doubt the undead will have any likeness to bloodhounds.

[VOODOO ZOMBIES]

An issue I was happy to see included was a brief discussion of the mistakenly related topic of voodoo zombies, and the often fanciful portrayal of Hollywood zombies. Neither represent the reality of an undead epidemic, however, both are relevant to the discussion. With regards to voodoo zombies, it is important that people understand that these unfortunate individuals are still very much alive. While they may no longer be quite right in the head, it is important to be able to correctly identify them as such, and avoid unnecessary killings.

As for Hollywood zombies, the key point, that cannot be emphasized enough, is that they are a product of Hollywood. I’d like to think that everyone already grasped the meaning of this concept, but there are undoubtedly folks out there who relish the thought of a wild-west-like zombie outbreak. While there are certainly lessons that can be learned from the scenarios presented, by no means accept them as absolute truth. They were primarily designed to be entertaining, not educational.

This entry has already gone on longer than I intended, so the last thing I’d like to do is compliment Mr. Brooks’s simple, but appropriate outline of the different classes of zombie outbreaks. I think the four levels serve well as a clear, and effective means for categorizing the scope of an outbreak. I may begin to reference this classification system in future discussions.

Well, like I said in the beginning, I’ve only just scratched the surface of this text, but I will report on further progress.

Read other “The Zombie Survival Guide” posts:

• This.. is my BOOM-STICK!
  The Zombie Survival Guide: Part 2: Weapons and Combat Techniques
• Zombies these days just have no respect, now get off my damn lawn!
  The Zombie Survival Guide: Part 3: On the Defense
• We’re going to the Winchester!
  The Zombie Survival Guide: Part 4: On the Run