World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War | Max Brooks | There is good geographic thought in...

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War | Max Brooks | Some notes from WWZ

books:

World War Z: An Or...

	World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks Three Rivers Press, 2007 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 442 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

There is good geographic thought in this book!

I am a geog teacher and have recommended this book to other geographers (as well as most of my friends and family). There are many reasons to read this book - including the author's admirable creativity and consistency: many points are developed to their logical conclusion, in surprising and satisfying ways (which is also why I loved the ZSG, too).

But for those of you who have ever taken a college-level geography class, you might recognize a few overarching geographic themes:
- Some more obvious, but well thought-through points about how the physical environment shapes human action (new importance of mountains, polar regions, etc.);
- Immigration as bodies moving across porous borders through complicated, organized networks (i.e., border security cannot just be a "wall" between two countries);
- How exceptionally interconnected the world is, and how our current standard of living depends upon global flows of material and finance: what happens when that collapses? (Note where the U.S. economy rebuilds itself);
- Yet another downside to urban sprawl: cities that are harder to surround, conquer and clean out because of the fragmented, low-density development patterns;
- Many, many vignettes about the changing nature of war - from the difference in fighting a new enemy that sees no borders / no boundaries, to refuge in the sea, etc.

And finally, I appreciate how the author has thought about the current geopolitical situation, and then in a compelling way illustrated how a new virus outbreak would play out - the world is NOT flat, as Thomas Friedman has argued, but geography matters!!! Many of these lessons here would ring true for multiple types of global disasters - including pandemic, rapid climate change, etc. Scary to think about.

And don't get me wrong - this is not an academic book; its primary value is for entertainment, and it does deliver in this regard. It also made me think, and thus I highly recommend it.

for more information click here

Some notes from WWZ

Mr Brooks's accounts of the war was necessarily horrific and should inspire those of us who came out of it with a sense of responsibility to never let it happen again.

My family was lucky. My dad and my uncle foresaw the outbreak and moved us out into the farm less than a week before Utrecht was torched. While our survival tactics on the farm would neatly compliment Mr Brooks's collection, I am surprised that not much more material regarding the biology of Z has been made.

Suffice to say that a clan of veterinarians with the war years to keep busy (apart from staving off the odd Z attack) provided ample time and opportunity to dig deeper into the Z's. From my uncle's notes on Z autopsies, he theorized that the Z pathogen is likely a virus / prion hybrid. In simplest terms, he surmised that human to human transmission is via viral infection through bodily fluids and human to Z transformation is caused by a prion which attacks the human nervous system and blood. The Z virus's role seems to be to cause a severe type of flu raising the body's temperature leading to a comatose state. Once the human is comatose and its brain/bodily functions slowed, the Z prion somehow transforms the central nervous system and blood into a battery - battery acid combination which kills the person, but animates the body to keep transmitting the Z virus-prion hybrid into other humans.

Just as he was researching how the Z virus and prion "live together", my uncle was himself accidentally infected right at the end of the war. Before he fell into the coma, he willed that his brain and blood be extracted for observation. In a sealed chamber rigged by my dad, my uncle's brain / blood battery has been powering the light in the basement with a steady direct current since the end of WWZ.

I'm certain that my uncle's findings are not original. And yet I've found no credible discussions of causes and preventions for possible future Z outbreak. I pray that this is period of "peace" is not merely a lull in the storm. Until such time that a cure is found, we can be contacted on the farm.

for more information click here

Instant Classic

What a great book! In a genius move, Max Brooks tells this story in the style of a Studs Terkel oral history by various survivors of the Zombie Wars. Set in the near future, the book starts as the author describes how his book first started off as a postwar UN report on the war. His interviews for the report forms the book he writes based on personal recollections of various people around the globe. A doctor in China who first noticed a mysterious disease, a US infantryman who battled the zombies, a Japanese man who, as a teen, had to make his way out of his apartment building against marauding zombies. Stories like these are woven together to tell a believable history of the Zombie Wars from the start to the final defeat of the creatures. A very enjoyable horror book! I have heard this book is being adapted into a movie. I hope they do it right.

for more information click here

Are you ready for the attack?

Honestly, I don't know what to say about this book other than it scared the crap out of me. The Zombies of this story could be replaced by anything a super bug, bird flu and any enemy; it would still apply. Each short story is told from a specific person's point of view, which I really enjoyed. I hope that the author writes more on this subject!!

Not as good as the Zombie Survival Guide- but still good

This book begins to drag after you get about half way through it but it still is very cool that Max Brooks tries something different with the zombie genre. Well written and often very interesting. I can't wait to see what he does next.

for more information click here