World War Z - the audio version - hands down. Hearing Jurgen Prochnow as a German Soldier who is commanding the rearguard for civilian safety. When he gets the orders to pull out and abandon the populace to the advancing horde and fall back to reinforce the main army - it’s nearly heartbreaking.
As an interesting aside, a friend of mine is a Technical Writer and when she was in college, they used The Zombie Survival Guide as a strong example of good technical writing. Actually spent a few hours of class time going over the book. It’s a decent read, but dry. And while I appreciate his approach, I’m not sure tippytoeing around the blasted wasteland of post-apocalyptic wherever on a bicycle is all that nifty of an idea. That whole guide seemed a little too namby/pamby. I mean, the world is up for grabs and you’re worrying about getting spotted? Hell, the zombies would spot me all right, I’d be roaring around in a modified Humvee with two Great White Sharks strapped to the sides of it.
I’d prefer a guide written by Master/Blaster from Thunderdome, with some help from Blades (Savini’s Character in the first Dawn), and maybe Victor Von Doom.
It was totally lacking in THE MOST USEFUL CHAPTERS - for example I’d include
Chapter 18 - Construction Equipment - How to hot wire your way to happiness.
Chapter 19: A Dummy’s Guide to Armor Plating.
Chapter 22 - Your Friend, the Monster Truck.
Chapter 24 - Give my Creation… Death!!! Improvised Munitions and you.
Chapter 26 - Finding Useful Jobs for the Displaced
1. Bait with a Bullhorn / Zombie Matador.
2. Improvised Munitions Officer
Chapter 31 - Pardon me, but how rabid is your horde?
Dealing with Warlords and Madmen in three easy steps.
Chapter 33 - “Jenkins. you are now Obersturmbahnfuhrer! Kindly shoot Wallace.
Assigning Rank and Seniority to your Followers
Chapter 34 - The Rape and Pillage Flowchart:
An easy guide to determining when you can safely proceed with sacking the goods of those foolish enough to oppose you, and some clear and easy Match.com-style guidelines to meeting the opposite sex in the wastelands.
Chapter 41 - Cutting Bait - Knowing when it’s time to move someone from the Trusted Friend subset to the “Have a nice life on the other side of the wall.”/“Hey, is that a Bald Eagle?
BANG! Subset.
Yep, the whole problem with the ZSG is that it primarily guides you to setting up your own hamster cage to quietly while away your days, eating and crapping in the same tiny arctic space. Not for me Brother!! (Um, or Sister… Sorry Bren and Ladies).
