Jan 6, 2009

The Zombie Survival Guide

Note: Hat tip to Cap'n Marrrk for hooking The Verdant Dude up with a leafy backdrop and some constructive criticism. Thanks, man!

I've been wanting to read World War Z by Max Brooks for some time now. But I figured it would be prudent to read his previous work, The Zombie Survival Guide first. Just to get an idea about how the dude's mind works.

It was a waste of time.

The book, sold under the guise of "Humor", wasn't humorous as all. It was barely interesting. And it was about twice as long as it needed to be as Brooks wound up repeating himself over and over again. It should have had more illustrations and fewer words, I guess. As it is and as it should have been, it isn't more than a book you may want to keep in the bathroom for 3 minutes of reading at a time. I went through the entire book in about 2 hours.

And never cracked a smile once. Or considered anything I was reading to be particularly clever.

But I'm still interested in World War Z, and I'm still hopeful. I started reading it last night and truthfully haven't gotten very far. I read more earnestly in the mornings on the weekend for some reason. At night, I just fall asleep. So I'll get to finishing it later on this week.

Have any of you zombie fans read either of these two books? What did you think?

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. All the walking dead are doing it.

14 comments:

jiggs said...

I am sick and tired of joke survival guides. How about we focus on living peacefully with the zombies like at the end of Sean of the Dead?

Faiqa said...

Wow. It's just I didn't know that you were *this* geeky. Way to flaunt your geekiness like a badge of honor. Good for you. I really do like the new look. It makes me want to... recycle.

Verdant Earl said...

Jiggs - I may have enjoyed it. If it actually was, ya know, humorous. But it was just tedious.

Faiqa - Oh, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg thus far when it comes to my inner geek. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Dave2 said...

Odd... before I read your entry, I was going to say that this was a good companion book to World War Z (though I dare say that WWZ is far more entertaining).

Slyde said...

ive leafed thru it. It seemed like a fun read, but nothing i wanted to actually pick up.

As for WWZ, i havent read it yet. i'm MORE interested in reading the Zombie Island/Zombie Nation/Zombie Planet trilogy. unfortunatly, i wrote the writer and these still have not been made into audio books..

Heff said...

I don't read, but at this point I want to roll your blog up and smoke it.

Ookami Snow said...

I got World War Z for Christmas last year, I haven't read it though...

Candy's daily Dandy said...

I'm with Hef..Let's smoke it dude! Green is good!

Avitable said...

I think it was funny when it first came out, but now it just feels like an idea beat to death.

Verdant Earl said...

Dave2 - I'm finding World War Z to be more entertaining. I guess the guide was unnecessary for me because I am so entrenched in zombie lore.

Slyde - wow...so you may actually, gasp, pick up a book? Horrors!

Heff - See! There are benefits of going "green".

Ookami - I would pass on the guide if I were you and just jump into the book.

Candy - far out!

Avi - I can't imagine it ever being funny. Or interesting.

hello haha narf said...

i scared o zombies. me no read.

madge said...

...we ordered this for our library! I haven't looked at it yet...but it did get some chuckles from other librarians that I know of....

Verdant Earl said...

Becky - one zombie is nothing to be afraid of. Now a zombie horde...

Madge - We purchased it at Barnes & Noble. I found World War Z easy enough, but I had trouble locating this (because it was in the humor section). I asked for help at the desk and this dude was like "okay, let's see...Max Brooks...Zombie Survival Guide...Complete Protection from the Living Dead. Is that what you were looking for?" Me: "Um, yeah". :)

badgerdaddy said...

I enjoyed World War Z, it works quite well in parts - except when the tool describes my town, Ludlow, as being in Wales. D'oh.

Not read the guide, but thought I might buy it soon. Might not, now. But WWZ is FAR better than the Monster Island-Nation-Bumhole books. Which yes, I read all of, but they got progressively worse to the point of me thinking 'Bloody hell, I need to write a zombie novel...'