This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Describe World War Z Discussion here.
Ayezur: Drive-by removal of the Noodle Incident as a trope, since the Hero City is revealed in the very last paragraph of the book. It's New York City. I, who had been moved but mostly stoic for most of the book, started sobbing.
Indigo: I'm quite sure [[spoilers:zombies]] was meant facetiously, and didn't need to actually be spoiler tagged.
Joysweeper: I will never, ever read this book - Zombie Survival Guide freaked me out plenty - but it troubles me that Luke Hamil read part of the audiobook. Now everything I do is related to something which is related to something, etc, with zombies.
Also, "solanum" is the species name for nightshade plants, including potatoes, tomatoes, pepper, petunias, tobacco, and eggplant. "Solanum" means "the nightshade plant" or possibly derives from Latin "to soothe". This amuses me.
CapnAndy: Removed "The Hebrew in the Israel section" from the Did Not Do The Research section. I speak Hebrew at native levels of fluency, and "B'Rosh! Yoreh b'rosh!" is perfect Hebrew for "The head! Shoot them in the head!"... and come on, would Mel Brooks' kid really flub the Hebrew? If someone wants to bring up actual incorrect Hebrew here, I'd love to hear it, but until then it stays gone.
Xander77: No, you obviously don't. However, I DO, and I can tell you that it's perfect Hebrew for "In the head! He's shooting in the head!" which is not THAT similar to "The head! Shoot them in the head!". "Lirot ba rosh / b'rosh" is "Shoot the head" while "Lekaven la rosh" would echo the standard instructor drill phrase "Aim for the center of the mass" and would probably be the phrase used.
Jonn: Wait, what heroine? And when did it say she died?;
- Chamale: The "heroine" referred to is the singer. She doesn't die, she has a near-breakdown near the end when she sees a turtle for the first time since the war began. The president dies the same say.
thenlar: How is the book a prequel? The book itself specifically references the Zombie Survival Guide, actually going so far as to have a survivor say that some parts of the ZSG were incorrect or unhelpful.
Smapti: My impression is that World War Z is describing the events that lead to the publication of the Zombie Survival Guide, or at least its in-universe equivalent.
Foryn: That may be your impression, but the text makes it very clear that in universe, the guide came first, or at most, shortly after the onset of the Great Panic, and that it wasn't helpful to anyone outside America..
Mr Death: I just finished the book, and reading the chapter on the French tunnels, the narrator explicitly says that the refugees didn't have the civilian survival guide yet, implying it didn't exist during the Great Panic. So, yes, the war was the impetus for the creation of the guide, but it was something that came early in the war, probably after the Great Panic.
Xander77: Read the survival guide itself. It DOESN'T MENTION A WORLD WAR AGAINST THE ZOMBIES. Seriously, why do people argue when the other side obviously has access to basic info they couldn't be bothered to acquire?
Mr Death: Why does it have to? The fact that there's a world war against zombies would be self evident to the potential readers if it was made during the war. Unless it says that there isn't one going on, then that doesn't rule out the possibility of it being published during the war.
Harry Miste: To the gentleman arguing about the French tunnels: who says it hadn't been translated into French at the time?
