History Literature / TheZombieSurvivalGuide

** Brooks mentions a completely fictional (but cool-sounding) WWII-era Japanese chemical warfare unit called BLACK DRAGON, who tested the zombie virus on Japanese dissidents. This is frustrating for a few reasons: 1, there probably weren't enough Japanese openly opposed to the war for this group to get any more than a handful of potential test subjects,[[labelnote:*]]Japanese culture has always and still does (to a point) emphasize minding one's own business and not making a public fuss, even if you completely oppose something. Throw in that many Japanese citizens were patriotic and Japan's propaganda machine made ''damn sure'' to make themselves look good at every opportunity during the war (to the point that many Japanese citizens weren't even sure that Japan had lost the war until the Emperor himself had to come up and say "[[{{Understatement}} the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage]]"; even after this, the Emperor had to prevent an ''assassination attempt'' by generals who didn't want to surrender!) and it means that even those who did oppose the war did not say much about it anyways.[[/labelnote]] and 2, the fairly well known Unit-731 actually existed, and actually ''did'' conduct biological warfare experiments on prisoners of war and enemy civilians (mostly Chinese) during the war. BLACK DRAGON develops zombie paratroopers, and then drops them, not on American or Commonwealth forces, or even on Nationalist Chinese troops, but on Communist Chinese guerillas, a faction quite notable for sitting out World War II after a major defeat early in the war forced them to retreat. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler dropping his one atomic bomb on Allied Brazil.

** Brooks insists survivors should avoid AR-15 derivatives because the 5.56mm round they fire will be difficult to find. His target audience is Americans in America.

** Brooks insists the best weapon for the zombie apocalypse is a .22 long rifle, a dubious claim at best given that it's not even legal to hunt mid-sized game with this cartridge, and bulk .22s are notoriously both unreliable and dirty, resulting in more wear and tear on the shooter's rifle (especially if it isn't a manual-action rifle), in addition to not being capable of being handloaded or reloaded like a centerfire cartridge because of their rimfire nature. Not to worry, Brooks also insists you shouldn't carry more than 30 rounds at a time, despite the fact most handgun caliber rounds are sold in boxes of 50, apparently meaning he advocates throwing away about half the box before setting out.

** Brooks mentions a completely fictional (but cool-sounding) WWII-era Japanese chemical warfare unit called BLACK DRAGON, who tested the zombie virus on Japanese dissidents. This is frustrating for a few reasons: 1, there probably weren't enough Japanese openly opposed to the war for this group to get any more than a handful of potential test subjects,[[labelnote:*]]Japanese culture has always and still does (to a point) emphasize minding one's own business and not making a public fuss, even if you completely oppose something. Throw in that many Japanese citizens were patriotic and Japan's propaganda machine made ''damn sure'' to make themselves look good at every opportunity during the war (to the point that many Japanese citizens weren't even sure that Japan had lost the war until the Emperor himself had to come up and say "[[{{Understatement}} the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage]]"; even after this, the Emperor had to prevent an ''assassination attempt'' by generals who didn't want to surrender!) and it means that even those who did oppose the war did not say much about it anyways.[[/labelnote]] and 2, the fairly well known Unit-731 actually existed, and actually ''did'' conduct biological warfare experiments on prisoners of war and enemy civilians (mostly Chinese) during the war. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler dropping his one atomic bomb on Allied Brazil.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Being a book about what to do and what not to due during a zombie outbreak, the guide points out how "obvious" ideas and tactics won't work and will likely get you killed. With BoringButPractical being the better bet.
** The police station is naturally going to be swarmed with scared people, and thus an easy target for the undead, while the gun store is naturally going to be overrun with people looking for weapons.

*** '''The [=AR15=] is too lightweight to use as a melee weapon, and cannot accept bayonet attachments.''' Actually, M16s are perfectly capable of using bayonets. Also a moot point, seeing that it's unlikely that civilian variants of either the AR15 or AK have bayonet lugs.
** Brooks also gushes over full-powered, semi-automatic rifles from World War II, mainly the M1 Garand. and the M1 Carbine. Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an [=AR10=] or M14 variant than an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms. During World War II, the rush to produce firearms as quickly as possible also means that plenty of shoddy or mediocre firearms were produced. Older firearms also have a tendency to be over-engineered, complicating cleaning and maintenance. Firearms produced for civilians actually tend to be superior in quality to military-grade firearms for this reason, lacking only select-fire capabilities. Looking for an antique, when modern options are actually better, is a massive waste of time and money.

** Brooks also gushes over full-powered, semi-automatic rifles from World War II, mainly the M1 Garand. and the M1 Carbine. Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an [=AR10=] or M14 variant than an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms. During World War II, the rush to produce firearms as quickly as possible also means that plenty of shoddy or mediocre firearms were produced. Older firearms also have a tendency to be over-engineered, complicating cleaning and maintenance. Firearms produced for civilians actually tend to be superior in quality to military-grade firearms for this reason, lacking only select-fire capabilities. Looking for an antique, when modern options do just fine, is a massive waste of time and money.

*** '''The AR15 is too lightweight to use as a melee weapon, and cannot accept bayonet attachments.''' Actually, M16s are perfectly capable of using bayonets. Also a moot point, seeing that it's unlikely that civilian variants of either the AR15 or AK have bayonet lugs.
** Brooks also gushes over full-powered, semi-automatic rifles from World War II, mainly the M1 Garand. and the M1 Carbine.
*** He mainly does this (partly) because of a mistaken belief that modern militaries do not produce full-powered, self-loading rifles since around that time period. Ignorant of the many counterexamples to this assumption, like the FN FAL, the M14, the SVD, the PSL, the G3, or the AR10. The latter, of course, being the progenitor of the AR15 platform, and arguably just as common and obtainable by civilians. Many of these examples are capable of select fire, though plenty more are intentionally locked down in semi-auto only, not only to sell to civilians, but also because full-auto fire is impractical even for military applications.
*** Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an AR10 or M14 variant than an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms. During World War II, the rush to produce firearms as quickly as possible also means that plenty of shoddy or mediocre firearms were produced. Older firearms also have a tendency to be over-engineered, complicating cleaning and maintenance. Firearms produced for civilians actually tend to be superior in quality to military-grade firearms for this reason, lacking only select-fire capabilities.

*** Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an AR10 or M14 variant than an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms. During World War III, the rush to produce firearms as quickly as possible also means that plenty of shoddy or mediocre firearms were produced. Older firearms also have a tendency to be over-engineered, complicating cleaning and maintenance. Firearms produced for civilians actually tend to be superior in quality to military-grade firearms.

*** He mainly does this because of a mistaken belief that modern militaries do not produce full-powered, self-loading rifles since around that time period. Ignorant of the many counterexamples to this assumption, like the FN FAL, the M14, the SVD, the PSL, the G3, or the AR10. The latter, of course, being the progenitor of the AR15 platform, and arguably just as common and obtainable by civilians. Many of these examples are capable of select fire, though plenty more are intentionally locked down in semi-auto only, not only to sell to civilians, but also because full-auto fire is impractical even for military applications.
*** Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an AR10 or M14 variant than an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms.

** Played completely straight with centerfire rifles, though.
*** Brooks cannot say ''enough'' about how wonderful the AK-47 is, while casually dismissing the [=AR15=] for a host of completely inaccurate reasons, which include:

*** Brooks also gushes over full-powered, semi-automatic rifles from World War II.
*** He mainly does this because of a mistaken belief that modern militaries did not produce full-powered, self-loading rifles since around that time period. Ignorant of the many counterexamples to this assumption, like the FN FAL, the M14, the Dragunov, the PSL, the G3, or the AR10. The latter, of course, being the progenitor of the AR15 platform, and arguably just as common and obtainable by civilians.

** Played completely straight with centerfire rifles, though. Brooks cannot say ''enough'' about how wonderful the AK-47 is, while casually dismissing the [=AR15=] for a host of completely inaccurate reasons, which include:
*** '''The ability to go full-auto.''' Even military M16s can't do this any more, let alone civilian rifles. And if this is a strike against the M16, it'd also be one against the AK, which is also sometimes capable of selective fire. This is a moot point anyway, since one is far more likely to find semi-automatic only variants of either rifle.
*** '''Inherent inaccuracy.''' The examples Brooks use are from the Vietnam War, a good twenty years before the book was written, although they do allow Brooks a pause wherein he can launch into a short AuthorFilibuster about the evils of the military industrial complex.
*** '''Ammo for the M16 would be nearly impossible to find in America.''' The country who fields it as their primary weapon and which has had very long, drawn-out discussions about the proliferation of this rifle in civilian hands. This is especially ironic because Brooks also recommends the Mini-14 and the Galil, two rifles chambered for the very same ammunition as the M16.

** Brooks mentions a completely fictional (but cool-sounding) WWII-era Japanese chemical warfare unit called BLACK DRAGON, who tested the zombie virus on Japanese dissidents. This is frustrating for a few reasons: 1, there probably weren't enough Japanese openly opposed to the war for this group to get any more than a handful of potential test subjects,[[labelnote:*]]Japanese culture has always and still does (to a point) emphasize minding one's own business and not making a public fuss, even if you completely oppose something. Throw in that many Japanese citizens were patriotic and Japan's propaganda machine made ''damn sure'' to make themselves look good at every opportunity during the war (to the point that many Japanese citizens weren't even sure that Japan had lost the war until the Emperor himself had to come up and say "[[{{Understatement}} the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage]]") and it means that even those who did oppose the war did not say much about it anyways.[[/labelnote]] and 2, the fairly well known Unit-731 actually existed, and actually ''did'' conduct biological warfare experiments on prisoners of war and enemy civilians (mostly Chinese) during the war. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler dropping his one atomic bomb on Allied Brazil.

%%* PerpetualMotionMonster: {{Lampshaded}}.

*** '''The ability to go full-auto.''' Even military M16s can't do this any more, let alone civilian rifles. And if this is a strike against the M16, it'd also be one against the AK, which is also sometimes capable of selective fire. This is a moot point anyway, since one is far more likely to find semi-automatic only variants of both rifles.

*** '''The ability to go full-auto.''' Even military M16s can't do this any more, let alone civilian rifles. And if this is a strike against the M16, it'd also be one against the AK, which is also sometimes capable of selective fire.

** The book goes out of its way to lambast AR-pattern rifles, supposedly due to their .223 ammunition being too small to effectively stop zombies, which can only be killed by a brain-destroying [[BoomHeadshot bullet to the head,]] while at the same time heavily favoring AK patterns due to their reliability and that the bigger 7.62 bullet being what is needed to put the zombies down. This completely ignores that modern AR patterns are ''much'' more reliable than they were when first introduced in the Sixties, and that, while the .223 bullet is indeed smaller, it flies ''incredibly'' fast and is much more accurate than 7.62, and is more than enough to deal fatal damage to the human brain. One of the greatest advantages of the .223 is that you can carry a '''lot''' more ammo due to its smaller and lighter size, meaning in the hands of someone who knows how to handle a gun, it's just as effective if not more than the 7.62. It's especially glaring, since the author stresses that two of the most important factors when fighting zombies with guns are accuracy and bringing enough ammunition.

*** '''Ammo for the M16 would be nearly impossible to find in America.''' The country who fields it as their primary weapon and which has had very long, drawn-out discussions about the proliferation of this rifle in civilian hands.

* PerpetualMotionMonster: {{Lampshaded}}.

*** '''Ammo for the M16 would be nearly impossible to find in America.''' The country who fields it as their primary weapon and which has had very long, drawn-out discussions about the proliferation of this rifle in civilian hands. The level of CriticalResearchFailure is somewhat astonishing.

** Amusingly enough, the only [[ILoveNuclearPower special power]] granted to the zombies by their radiation exposure was... radioactivity. Specifically, causing nearby human survivors to suffer from radiation sickness, the (already dead) zombies not being bothered one bit.

** The ancient Romans were not nearly as pragmatic and rational as the book suggests; they attributed success and misfortune heavily on divine signs and portents.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Type P. This book will only be useful if you're dealing with shamblers, as opposed to ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''- or ''Film/{{Zombieland}}''-style ones (the ones that sprint). The guide also takes care to remind you that you're after undead zombies, not voodoo-living-slave zombies.

** Taken UpToEleven with the 1583 Siberia incident, as it starts with a band of Cossacks cleaning out the stocks of a village, [[ImAHumanitarian before killing and eating several of the villagers]]. Eventually, they dig up corpses from the burial mound to try and find any corpses preserved in the cold [[spoiler: only for the one they dug up being a flash-frozen zombie, who bites one of them when he [[TooDumbToLive ungags her to find out how she "came back to life"]]. [[KarmicDeath All but one of the Cossacks would die when they tried to eat the toxic flesh of the zombie girl]].]]

** Brooks mentions a completely fictional (but cool-sounding) WWII-era Japanese chemical warfare unit called BLACK DRAGON, who tested the zombie virus on Japanese dissidents. This is frustrating for a few reasons: 1, there probably weren't enough Japanese openly opposed to the war for this group to get any more than a handful of potential test subjects,[[labelnote:*]]Japanese culture has always and still does (to a point) emphasize minding one's own business and not making a public fuss, even if you completely oppose something. Throw in that many Japanese citizens were patriotic and Japan's propaganda machine made ''damn sure'' to make themselves look good at every opportunity during the war (to the point that many Japanese citizens weren't even sure that Japan had lost the war until the Emperor himself had to come up and say "[[{{Understatement}} the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage]]") and it means that even those who did oppose the war did not say much about it anyways.[[/labelnote]] and 2, the fairly well known Unit-731 actually existed, and actually ''did'' conduct biological warfare experiments on prisoners of war and enemy civilians (mostly Chinese) during the war. These zombies are later deployed against Mao's forces near the end of the war, a strategy which makes no sense when one remembers Mao fought one battle against Japan during the war, got his ass kicked, and proceeded to hide in the Soviet Union for the remainder of the fighting while his followers still in China became collaborators, letting America and Nationalist China handle most of the heavy lifting. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler dropping his one atomic bomb on Allied Brazil.

* TheTetrisEffect: Get too into this book and you'll soon be idly scanning your neighborhood for easily barricaded streets, potential fortifications, arable land and secure sources of potable water.

* RapunzelHair: Will definitely get you killed by zombies grabbing at you - tie it up or cut it off. Zombie-minded people with long hair are already aware that running around with loose hair is impractical, [[MundaneSolution and they'd be braiding/bunning their hair anyway.]]

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: Discussed. Brooks says ''"Obviously, any civilian group will not have access to a real tank or [=APC=]"''. In practice, a civilian can acquire a tank having enough money to spend, as civilian collections/museums do, just that legally all weapons have to be deactivated by welding the breechblock—and even this rule has exceptions if you're willing to file the necessary paperwork and pay the requisite fees to the ATF[[note]] That being said, a tank owner is generally limited to solid-shot or canister ammunition for the main gun; any shell with an explosive charge such as HEDP, HESH, HEAT, etc. will be difficult and expensive to come by even if you have the permits, as such rounds for your vintage AFV's equally-vintage armament are almost certainly long since out of mass production. Canister and solid-shot, on the other hand, can are cheap and easy to make (comparatively speaking), and work just fine for exhibitions and/or just having fun at the range. Canister (essentially a giant shotgun shell) would probably be a reasonably effective anti-zombie munition anyway[[/note]]. But it still has treads and armor and can reduce the enemy to a bloody pulp. Plus, ever since the War on Terror began, police departments have been getting [=APCs=] with functioning turrets.

** Brooks mentions a completely fictional (but cool-sounding) WWII-era Japanese chemical warfare unit called BLACK DRAGON, who tested the zombie virus on Japanese dissidents. This is frustrating for a few reasons: 1, there probably weren't enough Japanese openly opposed to the war for this group to get any more than a handful of potential test subjects,[[labelnote:*]]Japanese culture has always and still does (to a point) emphasize minding one's own business and not making a public fuss, even if you completely oppose something. Throw in that many Japanese citizens were patriotic and Japan's propaganda machine made ''damn sure'' to make themselves look good at every opportunity during the war (to the point that many Japanese citizens weren't even sure that Japan had lost the war until the Emperor himself had to come up and say "[[{{Understatement}} the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage]]") and it means that even those who did oppose the war did not say much about it anyways.[[/labelnote]] and 2, the fairly well known Unit-731 actually existed, and actually ''did'' conduct biological warfare experiments on prisoners of war and enemy civilians (mostly Chinese) during the war. These zombies are later deployed against Mao's forces near the end of the war, a strategy which makes no sense when one remembers Mao fought one battle against Japan during the war, got his ass kicked, and proceeded to hide in the Soviet Union for the remainder of the fighting, letting America and Nationalist China handle most of the heavy lifting. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler dropping his one atomic bomb on Allied Brazil.
* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: Discussed. Brooks says ''"Obviously, any civilian group will not have access to a real tank or [=APC=]"''. In practice, a civilian can acquire a tank having enough money to spend, as civilian collections/museums do, just that legally all weapons have to be deactivated by welding the breechblock. But it still has treads and armor and can reduce the enemy to a bloody pulp. Plus, ever since the War on Terror began, police departments have been getting [=APCs=] with functioning turrets.