Line #18 Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide


1	[[quoteright:268:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zombiesurvivalguide_5929.jpg]]
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3	''The Zombie Survival Guide'' is a book written by Creator/MaxBrooks.
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5	The title is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty much self-explanatory]]. The book gives a detailed account on how to survive zombie outbreaks (all four levels). Written in a DeadpanSnarker tone, it is a comical look at what the average person would have to do to survive the {{Zombie Apocalypse}}, complete with a guide to arranging suitable food and weapon stores. Additionally, it explains how, if possible, to acquire a remote plot of land, and details describing how to turn it into a place to live for around twenty years, or until the zombies have decomposed.
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7	It also provides information as to what a zombie is, common myths, how to spot a zombie outbreak (the government is covering it up) and historical examples of zombies and how everything turned out.
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9	Followed up three years later by ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' in which characters make occasional reference to it, [[SelfDeprecation usually saying how it wasn't very good]].
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11	Brooks also wrote ''ComicBook/TheZombieSurvivalGuideRecordedAttacks'', a comic book depicting some of the recorded attacks with art by Brazilian artist Ibraim Roberson.
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13	----
14	!!This book provides examples of:
15
16	* OneDimensionalThinking: When a zombie encounters any sort of barrier, it will invariably try to push it down. The siege on Fort Louis Phillipe finally ended when the remaining legionnaires lured the zombie hordes inside the fort, than escaped by climbing over the walls, closing the inward-opening gates from right behind the zombies. The writer of the account notes that the zombies only succeeded in trapping themselves further by pushing at the gates.
17	* NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: Cited by the author (who actually states it as 5% of the brain being utilized by humans) as a possible means by which a zombie may have access to senses not normally available to the living. As the book is presenting only hypothetical speculation rather than attributing any actual zombie abilities to this, it ''could'' be a case of an InUniverse error by the author.
18	* AmbiguousSyntax: The Los Angeles recorded attack talks about the deaths of the original gang members involved in the incident, which can leave some ambiguity as to whether it just means the gang who was holed up in a building besieged by zombies, or the gang and their former rivals who showed up to fight them but ended up fighting alongside them.
19	* AndroclesLion: During the ''Recorded Attacks'' the few survivors of the Egyptian town of Al-marq, after being rescued by an Israeli force, managed to convince their own soldiers (who arrived after the battle) not to kill the captured Israeli's who were sent home. On a National level, the author proposes this as a possible reason behind Egypt and Israel scaling back on hostilities against each other.
20	* ArmorIsUseless: Brooks holds that most body armor would just be dead weight when running from zombies. Most zombie bites occur on the arms and legs, while modern body armor focuses the best armor on the center of mass. Furthermore, chain mail is generally too noisy and will just attract more zombies to you, and cumbersome plate armor is just suicidal. The best protection is making yourself harder to grab in the first place, by wearing tight-fitting clothes and short hair.
21	** That said, he mentions that shark suits, while still noisy, are specifically designed to protect against much stronger jaws than a zombie's, [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative and are especially useful when fighting zombies underwater.]] Though given that Zombies can survive under the waves with no need for oxygen, the threat of underwater zombies makes this a crucial piece of advice.
22	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A few examples.
23	** The idea that the solanum virus renders zombie flesh a UniversalPoison. And it's not just brought up once or twice; it's stated that ''every animal from every ecosystem'' recognizes and flees from the smell of zombie flesh. Even other bacteria and viruses dare not to occupy a body that's infected with solanum. It does mention that there ''are'' some types that can infect a solanum-infected corpse, otherwise they wouldn't decompose, but which ones they are are not mentioned.
24	** It also says that all of a zombie's nerve endings are non-functional ... not just pain receptors, but ''all'' of them. If that were true, the damn things wouldn't even be able to ''crawl'', let alone walk, because they'd have no sense of their own limbs' positions and couldn't detect whether any given appendage was touching the ground or not.
25	** A dried out body would be so fragile [[LiterallyShatteredLives that it would fall apart]].
26	** By all accounts, solanum's functions are a biological impossibility without some sort of supernatural element. The book takes pain to emphasize that ''all'' bodily processes (including blood circulation and breathing, the only utility of which is to moan at humans to attract more) are shut down, as solanum only needs to use a corpse as a vector to spread itself further. However, without blood or oxygen intake, a zombie wouldn't even be able to ''move'' since the muscles require oxygen and nutrients in order to properly function.
27	** This book resurrects (pun intended) the hoary old chestnut about humans [[NinetyPercentOfYourBrain only using 5% of their brain capacity.]]
28	** The slave ship scenario wouldn't actually work, as Solanum takes so long to incubate that the majority of the slaves would have died of thirst long before it reached them.
29	* ArtisticLicenseFirearms:
30	** 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, where AR-pattern rifles are among the most popular long guns on the civilian market ''and'' chambered in a NATO-standard round, meaning 5.56mm is about as easy to come by as 9mm pistol ammo or 12-gauge shotshells.
31	** He also specifically advises against using the M16 because the temptation to use full-automatic fire will be too strong, apparently under the impression selective fire weapons are readily had in the US. All of this becomes especially amusing when he then suggests using the AK-47, another rifle capable of automatic fire but chambered for a much less common in America round. In other words, every criticism of the AR applies to the AK as well, but this level of internal consistency isn't just lacking here.
32	** 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. Atop this, as mentioned below under ArtisticLicensePhysics, his main rationale for using the .22 (that it continuously ricochets around inside the human body like a pinball and inflicts devastating damage) is just complete twaddle.
33	* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
34	** In the book a zombie attack in China was mentioned. The zombies were said to be attacking a nuclear power plant in 1987. What's the problem with radioactive zombies in China? There were NO nuclear power plants in China until the 1990s, and they produced less radiation than most power plants at the time.
35	** The zombie attack account from an American sailor in Taiwan dates from 1901, and mentions a platoon of Nationalist Chinese troops accompanying the shore party. But they shouldn't even be there, as the Nationalist government wasn't established in China until 1911.
36	** Taiwan was also a Japanese colony back in 1901 after the First Sino-Japanese War. China didn't reclaim Taiwan until 1945.
37	** 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 not fighting any pitched battles against IJA forces after 1940, focusing almost entirely on guerilla activity and building up their own power base for the eventual resumption of the civil war. This would be roughly the equivalent of Hitler developing one atomic bomb and then dropping it on Belarusian partisans.
38	* 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, 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.
39	* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
40	** This really applies to ''any'' work of "standard" zombie fiction, but it is particularly glaring in this book, because the author goes to such pains to appear realistic. Zombies apparently gain no nourishment from the flesh they eat; they just have a compulsion to gorge themselves until their stomachs burst. And they can live for years. Even a dismembered zombie ''head'' can continue to live if its brain is intact. In RealLife the universe follows a little rule called the Second Law Of Thermodynamics, which states that, basically, you can't get something for nothing; if you consume no fuel, you cannot use energy. [[PerpetualMotionMonster So where are the zombies getting the energy to move from?]] The guide even makes a point of bringing this up and commenting on how baffling it is.
41	** Small, lightweight calibers like the .22 tend to lose most of their momentum against the first thing they hit, so a .22 bullet cannot continuously pinball around inside someone's skull, undead or not. The rimfire nature of .22 Long Rifle also makes the round itself, particularly the bulk ammo most commonly found in stores, ''extremely'' unreliable. There's a reason ''no one'' who knows anything about guns suggests them for self defense.
42	** 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. Even moreso since he, as said earlier, recommends .22 Long Rifle, and anyone who knows anything about either .223 or 5.56 knows that both calibers are essentially 22 on steroids. This isn't even getting into the fact that he contradicts himself later on by recommending the Mini-14 and the Galil rifle, two guns chambered in, you guessed it, .223 or 5.56 NATO.
43	* AuthorAppeal: Of a certain type - the book exists because Brooks himself is ''terrified'' of zombies and has been since childhood, and he apparently decided to overcome his fear by writing about it.
44	* AwesomeByAnalysis: In one Recorded Attack story (Owl Creek Mountains, 1842) a frontier scout in the party that finds the remains of an attack debunks suspicions that the local Natives are responsible by pointing out the Native Americans would have taken the livestock, with a count of the animal skeletons proving none are missing.
45	* AwesomeYetImpractical: The fact zombies will only die if their brain is sufficiently damaged makes many things less than useful against them.
46	** During the 2nd World War, the Japanese tried using zombies as offensive weapons, by unloading them from subs onto American island bases, setting them loose in enemy territory in Asia, and even dropping them into China by parachute. Sounds awesome, right? Unfortunately, the crews of the submarines were either eaten en route or destroyed by enemy forces, the ones that were to be set loose on the battlefield ate their handlers before they could get there, and the para-zombies were mistaken for ordinary paratroopers by Chinese snipers, who were trained to go for the head as a matter of course.
47	** The guide specifically mentions machine guns and chainsaws- yes, awesome, but they're loud (which draws the attention of zombies), heavy (which makes you tired, while the zombies won't lose any steam), rely on fuel (which other weapons such as machetes or the aforementioned trench knives don't), and more importantly don't always destroy the brain. Chainsaws are heavy, lifting them up to destroy the brain takes some time, and the primary advantage of the machine gun is that it unleashes a storm of fire on enemies, incapacitating them with massive wounds... but since all you need is ''one'' bullet to the head, it's just a massive waste of ammo.
48	** Hilariously, in-universe this book is considered this in non-United States areas in the sequel, World War Z. Interviewees state multiple times that the book is almost exclusively written for Americans, and that several things mentioned (easy access to weapons, Sport Utility Vehicles, not to mention certain attitudes and weapon types) are simply not found in other places.
49	* BewareTheLiving:
50	** In the "Defense" chapter, which is about the pros and cons of different forms of shelter, Brooks discusses whether or not a prison is a viable option. He mentions that while some prisons are sturdy enough to hold off the living dead indefinitely, you still have to worry about the inmates...
51	-->Considering that within a prison's walls are the most dangerous members of our society, wouldn't it be wiser to confront the undead? Most of the time, the answer is yes.
52	** When discussing where to go to during the initial outbreak, Brooks notes that Police Stations and Gun stores are probably the last places you want to go. Police Stations would be flooded by unprepared citizens freaking out (which would both attract zombies and most likely result in you being trampled to death by the mob), while Gun Stores would either be occupied by a very paranoid shopkeep, or already overrun by crazy people looking for firearms to defend themselves and would probably shoot you dead the moment you came in.
53	* BigDamnHeroes: Hilariously subverted with Harland Lee.
54	* BoomHeadshot: The only, only, '''only''' way to kill a zombie for sure is to deal proper damage to the brain.
55	* BoringButPractical:
56	** The book highly recommends using a crowbar as a melee weapon over more exotic weaponry, due to its reach, balance, and ability to tear down any blockades that people might have set up.
57	** Also, guns are only recommended when stealth is not a concern, as the noise will attract more zombies. The best type of gun to use would be a scoped semi-automatic rifle with a suppressor. The book specifically calls out automatic weapons as being not particularly useful: Why fire a spray of bullets when you only need one well-placed shot to kill a zombie? After all, hitting a zombie anywhere else is a waste of ammo.
58	** Bolt-action rifles are highly recommended as well, as they are very tough, can be used as a good hand-to-hand weapon, and thanks to the bolt-action, the person has a great need to make every hit count, and therefore have a higher chance of killing a zombie.
59	** Bicycles are an optimal vehicle for the zombie apocalypse, being quiet, versatile, and easy to use and maintain.
60	*** Also [[CoolBike motorcycles]]. Brooks got it right: heavy cruiser / touring bikes are much more maneuverable and far easier to maintain than any car, have reasonable performance on countryside dirt roads or damaged urban roads, can carry a few hundreds of pounds of supplies and a few hundreds more if they have a sidecar ''and'' can be pushed to the nearest safe place to be repaired if damaged.
61	** One attack on a dockyard is foiled by crane operators who place cargo containers as barriers, then drop more of them on several of the zombies.
62	** While armor capable of stopping a human bite seems like the best defense against zombies, the book notes that most armors of that type would either seal in your sweat (in the case of a shark suit) or be too cumbersome to wear for more than a few hours (plate armor). It instead recommends tight fitting (but comfortable) clothes with little pockets, short hair and running shoes, as these have nothing for the zombie to grab on to, is quite maneuverable, and won't tire you out.
63	* BrainInAJar: Back when Creator/MarcoPolo came by, Kublai Khan had a live zombie head preserved in a jar full of some kind of colorless alcohol.
64	* BreakTheHaughty: Don Rafael Corodza (a Spanish noble hunting for El Dorado) ignores the advice of his guides about journeying into an area filled with zombies (even though most of his men believed them), and quite possibly abandoned all of his men to save himself. Upon his return to Spain he's disgraced for wasting crown recourses and supposed hersey with his tales of the zombies.
65	* BurnTheUndead: Discussed, and strongly advised against most of the time. Zombies are not scared of nor slowed down by fire, they take a long time to burn, and [[InfernalRetaliation a burning zombie can do far more collateral damage to the environment than a regular one.]] That said, Brooks advises that fire ''can'' be an effective anti-zombie weapon in very specific circumstances (e.g. the zombies are trapped in a ditch they can't easily escape from), and [[FireKeepsItDead burning infected bodies after the zombie is destroyed is an excellent way to make sure that the virus doesn't spread]].
66	* CallBack: A lot of the recorded zombie attacks mentioned in the latter half of the book are linked to each other, as ghouls from previous incidents show up to cause more trouble: the Japanese forces come across the island Francis Drake called 'the Isle of the Damned'; the Canadian film maker Jacob Tailor has to fight off a horde created by a defrosted Cossack who was infected in 1583; zombies left over from the Knudhansen Party massacre continue to cause outbreaks in America throughout the 19th century; and some downed pilots in WWII happen upon the remains of Fort Louis Philippe.
67	* ChainsawGood: Averted. The book specifically mentions chainsaws as being incredibly impractical as zombie-killing tools, because of their weight and the noise they make (which is liable to attract more zombies). The dangers of running out of fuel for the saw while surrounded by a horde of the undead are also highlighted as reasons to disregard it as an effective zombie-killing tool.
68	* CherryBlossoms: Japan at one point attempted militarizing zombies; the operation was referred to as "Cherry Blossom", in reference to the role Cherry Blossoms play in death, according to Shinto beliefs.
69	* CrazyPrepared: You're advised to be.
70	* CreepyCemetery: Averted. The author notes that zombies have ''no reason'' to go into cemeteries (they can't get into the graves, so there's no food there), and Solanum can't infect corpses (and even if it could, modern burial methods mean the risen corpse couldn't possibly get out of its grave), so cemeteries make for a relatively safe place to rest.
71	* DeathOfPersonality: The book is adamant that once someone turns into a zombie, the person they were in life is effectively gone forever: all that remains is, in essence, an automaton of decayed flesh driven by little more than an instinctual hunger for flesh.
72	* {{Deconstruction}}: The novel essentially tells the WhatIf story of a real-life ZombieApocalypse, and how it would end. For starters, zombies would just naturally decompose over time and be completely gone by the winter time, and extremely humid areas such as near lakes would be fine due to zombies rotting in a few days at most, taking a wrench to the idea that an apocalypse stays an apocalypse forever.
73	* DrivenToSuicide: Some men of the French Foreign Legion committed suicide during the three-year long zombie siege on their fortress.
74	* EnemyMine: In 1993, two rival Los Angeles gangs team up to fight zombies. Interestingly, it's noted as one of the few times that ''overkill'' was applied to a zombie attack, resulting in the zombies all getting wiped out with very few human casualties.
75	* EnemyToAllLivingThings: The Solanum virus, which is feared by ''all'' animals.
76	* EveryCarIsAPinto: The book warns you to be careful about shooting on the highway when derelict cars are littered on it, because "a stray bullet could ignite an inferno". Outside of action movies, it is actually really hard to get a modern car to explode using bullets.
77	* ExoticWeaponSupremacy: Generally averted--the guide greatly emphasizes the importance of practical, easy-to-use weapons--although it's noted that if you had an unlimited selection in terms of bladed weapons, you'd definitely want to go with a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk%27s_spade Shaolin spade]].
78	** Brooks [[http://zombie.wikia.com/wiki/Katana recommends]] the [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] as a good melee weapon against zombies. While many actual sword experts disagree, a good katana can easily decapitate a zombie provided the proper two-handed draw-cutting method is used. Traditional tamahagane katanas are prone to rusting, require constant maintenance, and are somewhat fragile, so a [[http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/97THKL/TWO_HANDED_KATANA_MACHETE.aspx katana made of modern alloys]] may be preferable. Brooks eventually concludes that a machete, preferably of high-grade military issue, would be the best bladed weapon.
79	** A UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era trench spike (a.k.a. "that knife from ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''") is also recommended. While not "exotic", they're definitely antique.
80	** The [[BoringButPractical humble hatchet]], in the small size used in camping trips, can smash a skull, living or undead, with little effort.
81	** The book highly recommends the Soviet era titanium crow bars as both a tool and a weapon. Something of a subversion as the crow bars are preferred simply due to their light weight.
82	** 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:
83	*** '''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.
84	*** '''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.
85	*** '''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.
86	*** '''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.
87	** Brooks also gushes over full-powered, semi-automatic rifles from World War II, mainly the M1 Garand. Aside from the fact that a civilian is going to have an easier time obtaining an [=AR10=] or M14 variant than an M1 Garand, there's no reason to assume that the more modern options are going to be any less rugged or reliable than older firearms. Weapons during World War II were designed to be easily mass-produced, the heavier weapons like the Garand or Thompson that way because they were made with milled steel, not because they were specifically designed to be rugged. 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 both higher quality and easier to obtain, is a waste of time and money.
88	* AFateWorseThanDeath: The Portuguese Slave Ship incident is speculated to have involved a member of the crew becoming infected, and he spread the disease to the rest of the crew. It was then thought that one of the zombies bit one of the chained slaves. Who became a zombie and bit the next slave, and so on. The book mentions what that would be like for the unfortunate people at the end of the lines, watching their doom get closer and closer.
89	** Not that dying of thirst in their chains would've been much kinder, if they ''hadn't'' been infected...
90	* FearlessFool: While his plan didn't work, when Vitre, Louisiana was attacked, one resident raced outside to douse all of the zombies with molasses out of hopes that it would attract a horde of insects to devour them, and then managed to make it back inside safely.
91	* FireKeepsItDead: The guide recommends burning corpses during a zombie attack to make sure they don't resurrect, as well as diminishing the health hazard posed by decomposing flesh. Fire is the only way to safely dispose of a Solanum-infected corpse. All traces of the infection will be wiped out once the fire brings them down. That being said, it also warns that [[InfernalRetaliation setting fire to the zombie while it's still moving will basically make a giant, flaming torch that is still capable of biting and infecting while gaining the charming ability to set fire to everything it touches.]]
92	* ForebodingFleeingFlock: All animal life on earth instinctively fears and runs away from zombies, so a conspicuous absence of animals or animal noise might be your first clue that the undead are nearby.
93	* GovernmentConspiracy: No matter how much evidence you have, the government will make sure ''no one'' believes you. The author [[LampshadeHanging points out]] a particularly impressive cover-up, namely of the 1994 incident at the San Pedro port, which entailed shutting up dockyard management, the local police department, a private security company, and the entire crew of a freighter and its shipping company. No leaks except the one person who took photos (easily discredited due to the above), and all this at one of the busiest ports in the United States.
94	** Averted with the final entry, where the zombie became something of a local folk legend, gaining spinoff merchandise and everything.
95	* GratuitousFrench: A letter discussing the game "Devil Dance" played in the French Empire in the 1600s mentions that the "player" is given a tiny knife, "only a few centimes in length". A "centime" is a fraction of a franc (or, in modern currency, 1/100th of a euro). The French word for "centimeter" is... "centimetre".
96	* GunsAreWorthless: ZigZagged and {{Discussed}}. Because destroying the brain is one of the only surefire ways to kill a zombie, a [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] is an effective way to put them down. Conversely, the head is a relatively small and mobile target, so consistently landing headshots is difficult, and attacks to other parts of the body vary broadly in how effectively they can stop (but not kill) a zombie (shotguns have enough stopping power to give you breathing room, while a pistol would be useless, especially at lower calibers). The noise created by guns also makes it much easier for other zombies to hone in on you, so guns are typically best reserved as emergency weapons. Some firearms are better than others in dealing with zombies. As far as ranged weapons go, bows and crossbows are more advantageous, being silent, possessing enough penetrating power to pierce the skull and strike the brain, and benefiting from reusable arrows and bolts.
97	* HardHead: The book emphasizes that a human skull is one of the hardest things to fracture, let alone shatter, which is why most blunt weapons are not exactly one's best weapon of choice against the undead.
98	* HistoricalInJoke: Zombies are speculated to be the reason behind various historical events, such as...
99	** ...the detente between Egypt and Israel, supposedly directly related to a 1975 outbreak.
100	** ...the disappearance of the British colony at Roanoke.
101	** ...the fact that the ancient Egyptians removed the brain during mummification.
102	* HoldTheLine: Regina Clark of Jarvie, British Columbia did this against a mob of twenty-one zombies who interrupted the surviving townspeople escape attempt [[spoiler: and managed to kill all of them without dying herself]].
103	* HollywoodLaw: 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.
104	** Plus, ever since the War on Terror began, police departments have been getting [=APCs=] with functioning turrets.
105	* HollywoodSilencer: Occasionally referred to as being an adequate substitute for a crossbow or similar silent weapon. The point would be more viable with respect to the "on the move" situation covered in one chapter, where weight would be a key factor. [[FridgeBrilliance And where the difference in noise between a suppressed and an unsuppressed weapon might actually allow one to kill and run without too many more zombies being drawn to your location.]]
106	* HonorBeforeReason: Brooks explicitly advises a pragmatic approach to fleeing zombie-infested areas and advises against looking for survivors or absent family members when the outbreak hits, but accepts that [[LampshadeHanging "Sometimes, logic must give way to humanity."]]
107	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The author states that Solanum is the worst enemy of humanity... beside humanity itself. Even if you don't take the failed attempts at using zombies as a weapon by armies over time, sometimes the sheer stupidity and cruelty of some people worsened zombie outbreaks. And look how colonists treated locals who were better prepared than them in fighting zombies, [[UngratefulBastard even after they saved their asses sometimes]].
108	** The 1583 Siberia incident 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]].]]
109	* HummerDinger: Large [=SUVs=] are generally treated as AwesomeButImpractical due to their fuel consumption and misleading claims about all-terrain prowess.
110	* ILoveTheDead: Brought up very briefly: it is unknown whether Solanum can be sexually transmitted, but anyone who would attempt to find out is TooDumbToLive anyway.
111	* ImAHumanitarian: The Cossacks of the 1583 incident. They eat all the food in a village of people who saved them, and then turn to cannibalism with disturbing readiness. Once that runs out the decide to dig up graves; [[spoiler: one of the corpses they eat turns out to be a zombie. They all die.]]
112	* InfernalRetaliation: The author notes that, while fire will definitely get rid of a zombie eventually, you have to wait for it to burn away while it gains the ability to set everything on fire.
113	* InsanityDefence: A lawyer attempts this on behalf of Simon, an African NativeGuide accused of murder, stating that Simon's belief in a disease that causes corpses to rise and attack the living qualifies him as insane. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance As the incident took place in the early 20th Century, the court rules that the insanity defence only applies to white people]] and sentences Simon to death.
114	* ItsQuietTooQuiet The author explains that wildlife of all kinds instinctively flee when they detect Solanum, the virus responsible for reanimating zombies, seemingly as if evolution had coded this behaviour into all creatures. If, in areas abundant with noisy wildlife such as jungle and swamps, humans in the area hear nothing, this means that the undead are very likely to be near as there are next to no situations in which this would be the case. In addition, heavily infested areas are found devoid of any wildlife by survivors as everything has been consumed by ghouls, so cities especially but also other areas known for constant noise, whether human or wildlife created, become jarringly and eerily silent.
115	* JarOfTheBizarre: Kublai Khan owned a glass jar containing the pickled head of a zombie, which would attempt to bite the fingers of anyone who got too close to it.
116	* TheJaywalkingDead: It includes one account of a driver accidentally running over a slow-moving pedestrian. As soon as he gets out of his car, he notices the victim slowly crawling towards him...
117	* KatanasAreJustBetter: A combination of this trope and a highly competent zombie-hunting sect leaves Japan completely safe on the zombie front until operation Cherry Blossom.
118	* KickTheDog: The slaves of Castries, St. Lucia had rallied together to retake their island from zombies after their white slave owners were wiped out. They even asked some of the few remaining whites for help, but they refused and locked themselves up in the local fortresses. The other remaining whites fled the city to the outlying plantations, or escaped using what ever boat was available. By the tenth day, 50 percent of the white population was dead. Forty percent, more than several hundred individuals, were prowling the island as reanimated zombies. This left a sizable force of black slaves who now found themselves "free". The slaves were eventually successful in defeating the zombie horde.... Only for the [[TheCavalryArrivesLate cavalry to arrive]] and [[UngratefulBastard enslave them all over again.]] Ten days after the last zombie was dispatched, British and French colonial troops arrived. Instantly, all former slaves were placed back in chains. Also, all the free blacks and mulattoes were made into slaves because this incident was viewed as a slave uprising and so they were being punished for helping the slaves rebel. Any resisters were hanged....''damn''.
119	* MerchandisingTheMonster: The "Recorded Attacks" section includes the time a lone zombie walked up on the shore of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, tried to bite a child, and was killed by a recent immigrant. Unlike most zombie attacks where the incident was covered up, this one became a local sensation with merchandise ranging from photographs to children's books for sale.
120	* MoreDakka: The guide warns against this, saying that a single accurate headshot is the only thing that can truly stop a zombie. Anything else is a waste of precious ammunition.
121	* NativeGuide:
122	** In one recorded attack (East Africa, 1905) one eliminates a zombiefied hunter and is accused of murder and executed.
123	** In another recorded attack (1971, Rwanda) a Native Guide working for a nature documentary expedition refuses to enter a valley with mysterious moaning and warns his employers to avoid it as well, saying that the dead walk there. [[SmartBall They listen to the man]].
124	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: During the "Khotan incident", zombies attacked a nuclear power station and became contaminated with radiation, resulting in Radioactive Zombies. The author freely admits that this sounds like [[LampshadeHanging "something from bad 1950's science fiction"]].
125	** Amusingly enough, the only [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers 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.
126	* NoBikesInTheApocalypse: Averted. The guide considers bicycles the ideal vehicle for a zombie apocalypse since they're quick, versatile, easy to use and maintain, and almost noiseless.
127	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The author advises against taking too many risks to save other survivors for this reason. Recorded Attacks (1852, Chapas Mexico) also has a mention of three American treasure hunters rescuing a man from what they thought was a ritual sacrifice only to end up bitten by the man (who turned out to be a zombie).
128	* NoHonorAmongThieves: It's asserted several times that bandit groups will inevitably die out from infighting.
129	* NotWhatItLooksLike: Multiple Recorded Attacks end with authorities mistaking the aftermath of the suppressed zombie outbreaks for regular old massacres and punishing the people who put the outbreak down.
130	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Zombies are the result of infection via the Solanum virus, which mutates the brainstem into an oxygen-independent organ, thus allowing the zombie to continue to function in otherwise inhospitable environs. The book goes into further detail about the physiology and capabilities of zombies, including (but not limited to) a complete inability to feel pain, a slow and awkward ZombieGait, total DeathOfPersonality, and an instinctual preference for human flesh over animal flesh.
131	* PerpetualMotionMonster: {{Lampshaded}} - the book notes that zombies defy the laws of physics by being able to function for as long as they do depite their digestive systems no longer functioning and having no way to extract energy from the meat they consume.
132	* PostApocalypticTrafficJam: The Guide warns about these. Very often, someone was infected by the zombie virus, tried to escape in a vehicle, succumbed to the virus, and reanimated in that vehicle.
133	* ProperlyParanoid: At one point, the book reassures the reader that even though its instructions border on paranoid, they're entirely justified.
134	** In one of the Recorded Attacks, one of the Cossacks abstains from [[spoiler: eating the flesh of the zombie woman that was dug up from the graveyard]], as he was a superstitious man who considered it cursed. FromACertainPointOfView, [[TheCloudCuckoolanderWasRight he was totally right]] [[spoiler: [[KarmicDeath as the other Cossacks would all end up dying from the toxic zombie flesh]].]]
135	* RightForTheWrongReasons: In one Recorded Attacks story (1905, East Africa) the man acting as a defense counsel for Simon, a NativeGuide, doesn't believe Simon's claims that the man he killed was a zombie (making it a case of self-defense which would keep the man from being hanged). The lawyer instead argues that Simon shouldn't be hanged due to his [[InsanityDefense obvious insanity]]. [[ShootTheShaggyDog Simon is unjustly hanged anyway]] [[DeliberateValuesDissonance as the insanity defense was only permitted to white defendants at the time]].
136	* RuleOfCool: The more knowledge someone has about real-life survival and tactics, the more obvious it becomes that the book runs almost entirely on this, with most of the "research" clearly derived from movies, television shows and video games.
137	* SeriesContinuityError: The chapter on urban survival states that zombies lack the basic hand-over-hand coordination required to climb a ladder. Yet a later chapter on aquatic activities states that there is a danger of a zombie climbing up a boat's anchor line - an act that would require far more dexterity than climbing a ladder.
138	* ShedArmorGainSpeed: Highly advised since any armor that would provide complete protection would be heavy, and no doubt cook the wearer in hot weather. Mobility and being harder to grab are better options.
139	* ShootTheShaggyDog: The above-mentioned gangs in EnemyMine kill all the zombies, but when the cops show up their story is impossible to prove -- it just looks like they murdered a ton of homeless people. [[spoiler:They all go to prison and are murdered by rival gang members]].
140	** Hell, most of the survivors of the recorded attacks wind up either discredited, imprisoned, or executed. Special mention to the Canadian Documentary Maker who survived a two day siege, and managed to get the entire thing recorded on camera, only for him to have the film declared a hoax, gets discredited, has to settle a divorce and several lawsuits, and for the footage to be restricted from public viewing. Ouch.
141	** Half of the town of Piedmont, Oregon survived long enough to gather a lot of food and weapons fight their way to the mine, and seal themselves inside by blowing the entrance, only to starve to death before a relief party could arrive.
142	** Judging by [[FateWorseThanDeath the horrible fate which awaits any human contaminated by the virus]], turned into a ''moving brainless slowly-rotting corpse with no physical sensations'', even being imprisoned or shot is milder. Shoot first and deal with the law later.
143	** The Russian military survivors and scientists, who manage to turn their overrun base into a fortress, with its own power. [[spoiler:They and the zombies are nuked off the face of the Earth.]]
144	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Averted. Because you have to destroy the brain to take a zombie out, for a shotgun to work you have to let the zombie get closer than you probably want. Also, ammo is extremely bulky. A semiautomatic rifle is far more effective.
145	** Although, the author ''does'' state that shotguns have incredible stopping power to help you keep your distance and could potentially [[BoomHeadshot blow a zombie's head clean off.]]
146	** Also, shotguns actually have much lower spread than implied. Unless you're using target load, it would be ''easier'' for an inexperienced shooter to make a headshot at the ranges where they'd realistically be able to hit with a rifle.
147	** Shotguns as manufactured have a choke point or venturi at a certain point in the barrel, which limits the spread. If this removed by boring it out or shortening the barrel, you will have a wider spread as a result.
148	* ShortRangeShotgun: Zig-zagged. The book doesn't count out shotguns entirely, but advises you to prioritize rifles because their effective rage is longer.
149	* ShovelStrike: The guide says the Shaolin Spade is a very effective weapon in decapitating zombies from a good distance.
150	* TheSiege: Quite a few small towns in the recorded attacks section. Especially Fort Louis Philippe, a French out post in North Africa.
151	* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration: Type I, for the most part: zombies cannot heal and even though Solanum slows decomposition, zombies will gradually continue to rot away until they are reduced to little more than an infirm pile of gore. Nonetheless, they appear to be capable of reanimating after being frozen solid, and continuing to function at oceanic depths that would crush a living man, both of which, according to the author, are enduring mysteries.
152	* SuicideDare: Used to make a point. The book states that, if a member of your party demands [[LeeroyJenkins that the group immediately rush out without proper planning]], you should hand them a pistol with one bullet and tell them it's an easier way to commit suicide.
153	* SuperSenses: Brooks considers the possibility that the undead may possess some form of sixth-sense, as even when robbed of their ability to see, smell or hear, zombies still possess the ability to track down their human prey.
154	** As stated in AwesomeButImpractical, weapons like chainsaws and machine guns, while usually lauded as the ultimate anti-zombie weapons would be horribly inefficient. As opposed to lighter and silent weapons, capable of destroying the zombie's brain without attracting more or hindering mobility.
155	* TakeThat: The intro mentions zombie movies, and suggests that you ignore them, because they're filled with big guns, big men, and unrealistic action sequences... like the ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries''.
156	* TooDumbToLive: We'll give the civilians in the documented zombie attacks a pass due to the panic, mass hysteria and difficulty of pulling off a headshot at the best of times, but the section with the French Foreign Legion is definitely this. These are trained soldiers who were under siege in a fairly secure fort for '''three years,''' and they never ''once'' realised that shooting the zombies in the head would solve the problem.
157	** The book has this to say about the possibility of the sexual transmission of Solanum:
158	--> "[...]the nature of Solanum suggests a high danger of infection. Warning against such an act would be useless, as the only people deranged enough to try would be unconcerned for their own safety."
159	** The Cossacks who ate the zombie they dug up, ''even after it had bitten one of them.'' [[spoiler:Of course they die from eating the poisoned flesh.]]
160	* TVNeverLies: Chinese conspiracy and zombie lovers believe that zombies are being developed in Xinjiang. Some even posted "evidence" satellite photos, but they turned out to be made with Class 3 Outbreak, a satellite-map based zombie game. Now it has become some kind of internet MemeticMutation, being associated with all kinds of strange tales from Xinjiang.
161	* UndeadChild: One of the Recorded Attacks concerns a young girl named Ellen, who caught Solanum after receiving an infected blood transfusion, died, reanimated and bit one of the medical personnel. Ellen, along with the infected medic, was then taken to a secret location; her parents were later told she had died and her body had been cremated for "health reasons".
162	* UngratefulBastard: The Cossack scouts who, after being given shelter by an Asiatic tribe, conquer, enslave, plunder and ''cannibalize'' their generous hosts. [[LaserGuidedKarma They get theirs, though]].
163	* UninhibitedMusclePower: Why zombies are so strong. It also explains why this is a ''weakness'' as well, because using the muscles damages them... and zombies can't self-repair, so the older a zombie is, the weaker it gets.
164	* UniversalPoison: Zombie flesh, to the point that [[ArtisticLicenseBiology the smell of a zombie can be used as a repellent against every animal from every ecosystem, everywhere]].
165	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
166	** This is how the Romans treated zombie outbreaks. With cold mundane efficiency, like any other job that needed to be done.
167	** Also the Zulu nation, who used zombie pit-fights as a rite of passage for young noblemen. The Romans were however the only culture (prior to Max Brooks) to write an actual [[OlderThanTheyThink anti-zombie manual]].
168	** By the 1950s, one-on-one cage fights with zombies are an extreme sport in some parts of Southeast Asia, called "Devil Dance."
169	* TheVirus: Solanum.
170	* VoodooShark: In order for the zombies to function like classic Romero zombies, the virus has a wide array of ridiculous secondary effects. For instance, the problems of why the walking corpses aren't devoured by insects and why there isn't a corresponding plague of zombie animals are solved by making the flesh of the infected utterly lethal to everything but only infecting humans. See the Artistic License entries for more examples.
171	* YankTheDogsChain:
172	** The 1960 Byelgoransk incident.
173	--->Inside the prison walls, a coalition of scientists, military personnel, and prisoners was surviving quite comfortably. [...] Radio contact was even maintained on a daily basis. The survivors reported that, given their position, they could hold out until winter, when, hopefully, the undead would freeze solid. [[spoiler:Three days before the first autumn frost, a Soviet aircraft dropped a crude thermonuclear device on Byelgoransk.]]
174	** The case involving Ellen Aims is just ''tragic''. She needs urgent medical treatment and a blood transfusion after bearing the brunt of a fire at her school that killed 47 others. She gets that much needed transfusion eventually, only to find out the hard way the donor was an infected person after Ellen starts showing symptoms herself. Eventually dying, turning, taking a chunk out of a nearby nurse and both of them then transported to a separate location to be euthanised and cremated.
175	* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: The book mentions that part of the reason why zombies are so dangerous is because their pain receptors have ceased to function, therefore most damage inflicted on them will just be ignored. The only way to stop a zombie completely is to destroy its brain.
176	* ZombieApocalypse: Most of the book talks of surviving through small outbreaks, but one section is dedicated to knowing how to survive a "Class-4" outbreak, in a world where zombies have completely overrun humanity.
177

Context Literature / TheZombieSurvivalGuide