# The Zombie Survival Guide **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341 "2008-04-22T01:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/1 "2008-04-22T01:28:24Z")
By the same guy who later wrote World War Z. Simply put, this is the best survival manual I have ever read; a must-have for dedicated survivalists! 😃 Seriously, by the time I finished this book I’d gotten so into it I was thinking in terms of zombie survival strategy: such as the nearest place I could buy a machete, how to barricade our stairwell, and how those long poles with a hook at the end that they keep at swimming pools would be handy for safely moving corpses. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/2 "2008-04-22T01:51:33Z")
I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did _World War Z_. I know it was written in a tongue-in-cheek manner but it just didn’t too my horn. Maybe I should try reading it again. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/3 "2008-04-22T03:31:25Z")
Just finished WW:Z I’m so damn happy that J Michael “Babylon 5” Strazinsky (sp?) is doing the movie treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Pollux\_Oil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/858c86/32.png) [@Pollux\_Oil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pollux_Oil)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/4 "2008-04-22T04:06:20Z")
I have both, and have read World War Z I just haven’t gotten around to reading the Zombie Survival Guide. I loved World War Z, I thought it was a unique perspective on the idea of a zombie apocalypse. I actually know a guy who is actually, no joke, deathly afraid of zombies and swears by the survival guide. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/5 "2008-04-22T05:34:32Z")
I (very briefly) got shake Max Brook’s hand, and he seemed just like a down to earth kinda guy. Very affable, and when I asked about the movie, he said “You probably know more than I do. I’m just the guy that wrote the book… I’m about the least important part of it all at this point.” He seemed quite amused by our Zombie Walk last year at the Monroeville Mall though. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/6 "2008-04-22T11:05:59Z")
Does it mention that [mathematicians tend to be hydrocephalic (i.e. small brained)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463527) and thus shouldn’t be sent out as decoys while everyone else escapes out the back as the unsatisfying meal they make for zombis is liable to just piss them off? 'Cause I think that rates an “Egon’s Important Safety Tip.” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/7 "2008-04-22T13:07:00Z")
[QUOTE=Pollux Oil] I actually know a guy who is actually, no joke, deathly afraid of zombies and swears by the survival guide. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Personally, I think that’s the best part of The Zombie Survival Guide. It’s written perfectly straight and if there ever was a zombie uprising, it would instantly become the most important book in mankind’s history. Not bad for a book shelved in the humor section. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/8 "2008-04-22T14:22:44Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] Personally, I think that’s the best part of The Zombie Survival Guide. It’s written perfectly straight and if there ever was a zombie uprising, it would instantly become the most important book in mankind’s history. Not bad for a book shelved in the humor section. [/QUOTE] Well, if they were Solanum-created classical zombies, sure – but I think the “rage virus” zombies of **28 Days Later** and its sequel are much more likely to occur in real life. But I definitely agree, the completely straight style made it a much better book than it would have been if it were written in a satirical style. It was especially chilling to listen to it in audiobook format (though that meant I had to look up how to spell “Solanum” just now). ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/9 "2008-04-22T14:36:36Z")
If you like TZSG and World War Z, you might like [The Walking Dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead). It’s pretty dark though. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/10 "2008-04-22T14:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] If you like TZSG and World War Z, you might like [The Walking Dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead). It’s pretty dark though. [/QUOTE] As opposed to, you know, those bright-sunshiny-unicorn-and-rainbows Zombie stories. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/11 "2008-04-22T14:59:14Z")
[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank] As opposed to, you know, those bright-sunshiny-unicorn-and-rainbows Zombie stories. 😃 [/QUOTE] Well, yes. I spose. :smack: But there’s some seriously dark stuff in The Walking Dead, and very little of it is done by the zombies. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/12 "2008-04-22T15:02:57Z")
I read this book on a plane to and from Pittsburgh last year. It’s a great tool for getting the person in the seat next to you **not** to talk to you. I haven’t read World War Z yet, but I imagine reading the _Survivial Guide_ first instead of last might make it seem better. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/13 "2008-04-22T15:21:02Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] I haven’t read World War Z yet, but I imagine reading the _Survivial Guide_ first instead of last might make it seem better. [/QUOTE] Eh, it actually doesn’t matter much. Just being a non-fiction (sort of…) book the Guide and World War Z don’t have much in common. About the only thing they do share, aside from being about zombies, is that World War Z mentions the guide a few times (it refers to it as “that civilian guide made a few years back.”) But regardless, go read World War Z. Right now. Call out of work if you have to. When you get done reading the feral child story come back and tell us how freaked-the-fuck-out you were. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/14 "2008-04-22T15:24:35Z")
I’m in the middle of another book right now, but I think my husband has _World War Z_ at home already. If not, I’ll snag a copy and read it next. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/15 "2008-04-22T15:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] …But regardless, go read World War Z. Right now. Call out of work if you have to. When you get done reading the feral child story come back and tell us how freaked-the-fuck-out you were. [/QUOTE] I’ll have to do that. There’s one thing from _Guide_ that I want in the _World War Z_ movie, and that’s the silent Super 8 footage from inside the bus. ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/16 "2008-04-22T17:38:26Z")
Check this out - Library Zombies. It won an award at a recent library conference. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUxp3E3YUdQ) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/17 "2008-04-23T01:56:39Z")
Something I just realized: don’t zombies dry out, especially in hot dry climes? You’d think after a couple of weeks under a desert sun you’d have zombie jerky instead of jerky zombies. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/18 "2008-04-23T02:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] Something I just realized: don’t zombies dry out, especially in hot dry climes? You’d think after a couple of weeks under a desert sun you’d have zombie jerky instead of jerky zombies. [/QUOTE] One of the things that’s mentioned (in at least WWZ, and I think the Guide,) is that for some reason, the virus that makes people zombies also makes them practically immune to environmental extremes. They don’t dry out in the desert, they don’t rot in swamps/under water (well, they do, but at a MUCH slower rate than a regular corpse.) And, while they do freeze in winter, once the weather warms up they un-freeze and are active again, even though normal cells would burst and be useless if frozen and thawed. ---
**Author:** ![Unix\_Geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unix_geek/32/19368_2.png) [@Unix\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unix_Geek)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/19 "2008-04-23T02:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] Something I just realized: don’t zombies dry out, especially in hot dry climes? You’d think after a couple of weeks under a desert sun you’d have zombie jerky instead of jerky zombies. [/QUOTE] Not according to the ZSG. “The dry air would retard their already-slowed decompositition.” pg 171. Better off in a jungle where (again according to the ZSG), “Field tests have shown at least a 10 percent higher decay rate in jungle-bound zombies. In certain cases, the percentage has been as high at 25!” pg 172 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341/20 "2008-04-23T02:19:38Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] One of the things that’s mentioned (in at least WWZ, and I think the Guide,) is that for some reason, the virus that makes people zombies also makes them practically immune to environmental extremes. They don’t dry out in the desert, they don’t rot in swamps/under water (well, they do, but at a MUCH slower rate than a regular corpse.) And, while they do freeze in winter, once the weather warms up they un-freeze and are active again, even though normal cells would burst and be useless if frozen and thawed. [/QUOTE] Fine, but they still have to **eat,** right? If they can eat nothing but human flesh, they won’t last long in a zombie-infested world. Just hole up with some canned goods and wait for them all to starve to death. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-zombie-survival-guide/446341.md?page=2)