Reddit reviews World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Two books I've read this month that I can't recommend highly enough:

First, The Sociopath Next Door by Dr. Martha Stout. Really illuminating and, to coin a phrase, might just save your life. The book is a great read and gets into a lot more detail and examples from the author's practice, but here's a quick summary:

• 4% of people are sociopaths. That means you probably know a sociopath and don't know it.
  
• Sociopathy is a fairly well studied clinical phenomenon. They are people who simply lack the capacity for higher human emotions like love and empathy, and therefore conscience.
  
• Conscience is the cornerstone of all moral behavior among the 96% of us who aren't sociopaths, not abstract codes or religion or laws or rational self-interest, but rather that it is emotionally impossible for us to seriously harm another human being (absent a very specific regimin of military or other training and even that has severe limits).
  
• Because they are not caught up in their own emotions (they don't have any), sociopaths are very effective liars and manipulators, and have no compunction whatsoever about harming you (emotionally, financially, or even physically) to get what they want. This makes them extremely dangerous.
  
• The best giveaway of a sociopath is the "pity play". Being pitied is very advantageous: it can cause people to forgive almost any transgression and feel compelled to help the pitied to an unreasonable extent. However, almost all non-sociopaths hate to actively request pity; even if they secretly want or expect it, they almost never explicitly say "you should feel sorry for me" or the like. Fortunately sociopaths seem not to understand this second part, this is the one common way their mask of being human slips.
  
• There is no winning with a sociopath: they will always be better than you at the game they play. Your only good option is to protect yourself and cut them out of your life.
  
  Second, World War Z by Max Brooks (well, re-read actually; I guess I have a morbid sense of humor). Intelligent multidisciplinary writing is my favorite approach to speculative fiction and this is a master class in it. The choice to approach it as a post-war oral history à la the late Studs Terkel was truly inspired.
  
  But what I was absolutely blown away by is, after a month of reporting on the real-world Ebola epidemic, how astonishingly spot-on Brooks' writing is in regards to the tone and terminology of media reports in the early days of the outbreak. He predicted, almost verbatim, phrases that I'm hearing on the radio on a daily basis today. The verisimilitude is just jaw-dropping, that's real talent.
  
  EDIT: For those who didn't care for the WWZ movie, you might like the audiobook. Obviously it's non-visual but they have an incredible voice cast. A few examples: Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, Simon Pegg, Carl Reiner, Jeri Ryan, Parminder Nagra, F. Murray Abraham, John Turturro ... and that's just the start.

World War Z (about a zombie apocalypse) is written as a collection of transcribed and annotated interviews.

Check out Pines by Blake Crouch. It's a fun mix of The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, and The Fugative.

I'm not sure how much you've read by Stephen King, but many of his books are not all that intense. Two recommendations are 11-22-63, about a time-traveller trying to prevent the JFK assassination, and Sleeping Beauties (with son Owen King), about an apocalypse where all females succumb to an unending coma if they fall asleep.

You might also check out creature-feature books like Jaws, The Meg, Jurassic Park, or my book The Dinosaur Four.

On the zombie front, consider World War Z by Max Brooks, an "oral history of the zombie apocalypse," and Mountain Man by Keith C. Blackmore is about a loner who drinks his way through the zombie apocalypse. If you're an audible member, there is a free short story prequel to Mountain Man called The Hospital.



Best,

Geoff Jones

Author of The Dinosaur Four

I am going to take issue with that Brave New World and Hunger Games are dystopian, but not science fiction" line. The article linked to explain that distinction is based around the idea that dystopia must involve an ideological critique and uses The Matrix as an illustrative example, but doesn't seem to talk about what makes something science fiction rather than just blanket speculative fiction. (e.g. According to the author, The Matrix is not dystopian because the central narrative line is a messiah's human triumph over machines in thriller format, not the prediction/parable about humanity's end that would mark it as dystopian according to the thesis. I disagree.)

As far as I'm concerned, science fiction incorporates technology and/or science that is conceivable, but not currently available. So I'd say Brave New World's Bokanovsky's Process and The Hunger Games' genetic engineering in the form of mockingjays and tracker jackers as well as the flight craft and force fields and massive leaps in other technologies easily qualify them both as sci-fi. And dystopian.

So ha. ^Though ^you ^might ^get ^me ^to ^argue ^that ^Brave ^New ^World ^is ^actually ^utopian.

More Recommended Dystopian Sci-Fi Reads:

• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (adult literary sci-fi). Hyper-relevant commentary on social stratification, corporate power, class warfare, and rampant genetic engineering. One of my favorite books ever. Companion volumes (not sequels) are The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam
  
• Feed by M.T. Anderson (YA sci-fi), where everyone has the internet in their heads from birth. The consequences of instantaneous gratification and hypercapitalism. Super depressing and yet another one of my favorite books.
  
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (YA and a free ebook, btw). Maybe not the best ever, but hyper-relevant and you can treat it as a primer on internet security, higher level math, and coding. In near-future California, a teenage hacker is swept up by the Department of Homeland Security following a terrorist attack. Serious social commentary on mass surveillance and privacy.
  
• World War Z by Max Brooks, bearing no resemblance to the movie beyond the name (adult post-apocalyptic, an easy - and favorite - read. The abridged audiobook is good too). Despite the zombie apocalypse, this might not even count as dystopian because the interconnected interview narratives about the triumphs of human ingenuity are pretty uplifting. Themes of social change, the levels we'll sink to for survival, resilience...
  
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (YA sci-fi). At 16, the perfect society will make you pretty... And dumb. Society's obsession with beauty, etc, etc. I thought the series went downhill, but this is worth reading.
  
• Habibi by Craig Thompson (adult graphic novel). Half exegesis, half narrative about a post-apocalyptic Middle East mixed with stories from the Qu'ran and Arabian Nights. Deconstruction of the human spirit in a dying world, mainly.
  
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (adult literary). If you've even seen the movie trailer, half of the slow build to "something is not quite right" in the book is lost.
  
• Incarceron and Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (YA steampunk-ish). This almost broke my favorite books list. Almost. Two worlds: one steampunk, labyrinthine prison, one fake medieval "real" world.
  
  Dystopian and Not Quite Sci-Fi Recommendations:
  
  
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (MG). Forget the movie trailer. The book we read back in elementary school was more about a utopian society going back to a simpler time and a 12-year old discovering the cracks and making his own decisions.
  
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire (adult literary fantasy). Different once again from the Broadway show, this is The Wizard of Oz told from the POV of the Wicked Witch of the West. All about the nature and definition of evil, but even then it might not count as dystopian. The Wizard is a Nazi, btw.
  
• The Selection by Kiera Cass (YA popcorn). This is seriously only making the list because of the popcorn aspect and where it seemed like it was going to go before The One ruined all the political drama and revolution that could have happened. Basically a fun Mary Sue-fest about princess lessons in a future-North American caste society.
  
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (YA spec fic). Anorexic teen during WWIII. Plenty of survival and resilience questions, but no new tech, so not really sci-fi, I'd say.
  
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (adult literary spec fic). Could arguably belong on the list above, but there's not much in the way of technology. At all. With declining birth rates due to pollution, the US becomes a theocracy. Written in response to the rise of evangelical politics in the 80s much like Oryx and Crake was in response to the politics of the early 21st century, but the main takeaway I got from it was that anthropologists are unconscionable.
  
• Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (adult literary spec fic). I didn't like this one at the time because the symbolism was so heavy-handed it bordered on magical realism and I couldn't understand the MC's decisions, but it grew on me in retrospect. After a flu pandemic, two teenage sisters live mostly on their own.
  
  But really, this whole article setup is eerily reminiscent of the "____ Literary Trope is Not Worthy!" followed by "Rebuttal!" linkbait we've been seeing a lot.

It's more like a series of short stories put together by a researcher. It's been years since I read it so I don't recall all the specifics, but it was basically a guy who was tasked with going all over the world as the zombie menace had been mostly resolved and documenting how different groups dealt with it in different ways. It was very creative in that it covered how zombies behaved in extreme environments like way up north during the winter months, and even under the oceans since they obviously don't need to breathe and can walk just about anywhere.

https://smile.amazon.com/World-War-Oral-History-Zombie-ebook/dp/B000JMKQX0/

The Stand is one of my favorites. I've compiled a list of other books that might be of interest to you.

Oryx and Crake

Handmaid's Tale

World War Z

On the Beach

Wool

The Road

You are such an amazing person for this!

I would like it because it would be a great way to pass time. Now that its summer, and I will be home pretty much every day twiddling my thumbs and occasionally on reddit when I have enough data. This would be great because then I would have something to do, and itll give me a chance to start reading more :D oh and not to mention I'll love you forever if I win XD.

Oh and heres a link to favorite ebook

1: Zombie or Halloween related item

2: Zombies are cool because they bring out the great or worst out in people once an apocalypse starts, someone who was once loving and caring about people could become heartless and cold to people once an outbreak happens, and someone who hated people before an outbreak can become some body you want in your group and actually want to help out. But the one thing everyone should really watch out for is that you should never really trust anyone, you can trust someone if they trust you back, they could always leave you for dead, since survival is what they really are after.

3: You might like the video game Far Cry 3
favorite zombie movie is a tie between Night of the Living Dead and 28 weeks later.

4: Im a human being not a zombie ;_;

What genre do you typically read? Here are a few of my favorite books.

[Flowers for Algernon] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WJQ74E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

1984

Ender's Game

World War Z

Flowers for Algernon: This story is told in first person, in a series of journal entries of a mentally handicapped man named Charlie. He goes under a medical experiment to see if mental retardation can be fixed by surgery, and the journal entries follow him through this. Warning: There will be ninjas cutting onions during your reading of this book

1984: This is a must read story in my opinion, on the off chance you have not read this already. It tells the story of Winston, a party member that works for a totalitarian government. To be honest, I don't read this story for the main character Winston, but I read it for the political commentary in the book, as it describes his life.

Ender's Game: This is set in the somewhat distant future of Earth. Earth has been at war with an alien insect race, thou at this time, there is a cease fire. This follows the story of Ender Wiggins, as he goes through military school. And he is like, 10 years old, as is his fellow classmates.

World War Z: You know that movie that was called World War Z with Brad Pitt? Throw all of that out the window. The only similarity that the movie and the book has is the name World War Z. This book is written as a series of interviews of survivors of The Great Zombie War. It goes through the whole war, from an interview with a doctor who dealt with a patient zero in a small Chinese village, to the great panic and how the government reacted, as well as the aftermath. It interviews people from all walks of life. Doctors, military, human smugglers, government officials, and everyday normal people both in the states and abroad. If i had to recommend only one book, it would be a tie between this or 1984. And 1984 is tied because of the historical significance.

If you're a fan of Watchmen, I'd definitely suggest checking out some of Alan Moore's other work such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. As a fellow fan of The Last of Us, I'd recommend something along the lines of World War Z. In both these cases, the books are completely different from (and better than) the films!

I seriously want World War Z. I read Brooks's other books and loved them and allegedly this one is the best. The Movie has got me super excited and cautiously optimistic. I hear it's really different from the source material but hey, A mental mind fuck can be nice.

You are awesome for having a contest like this. Thanks for doing it:)

This is a book I have been wanting to read. My name is Amber and I would love to have a Kindle Fire so I can read more. It would make it so much easier than carrying books around with me to the kids games and doctors appointments and stuff.

World War Z
My name....my name is Nate!
Why I'd like the Kindle or why I'd like the ebook? How bout both? I'd like the kindle because I'd like my wife to have a tablet as well and she loves to read. I've currently got the nook which I've rooted so I can use nook or kindle books on it. I'd let her choose which she wanted and even factory reset the nook if she wanted that.
The ebook? Well a friend of mine is reading it right now and he's telling me it's one of the best zombie books he's read so now I'm highly interested in it.
Thank you for this super awesome contest!

I had the opposite experience. I knew it would be substantially different than the book, but I couldn't help but be annoyed that they didn't keep some key concepts (like the zombie characteristics that jojoko mentioned). So, compared to the book, the movie is like a monkey banging on a piano – entertaining, but painful. Compared to other zombie movies, it's among the best. I'd say it's on par with 28 Day Later, but it's not as good as Shawn of the Dead. ...but, really, what is? Zombieland, maybe? Okay, I like comedies. Anyway, compared to other newish movies, it's way, way better than the ridiculousness that was Live Free Die Hard, but it's not really as good as say, the new Star Trek. But, on my Movie-Awesomness-O-Meter, it's certainly closer to ST than LFDH..

I suppose what it boils down to is this: If you're debating between spending your last $10 on a 12 pack or WWZ, go to the movie. BUT, you're better off spending that $10 bucks on the book.

This is incredibly generous of you! :)

I'm generally a book purist since I love the way that the pages feel when you turn them and the way old books smell (which is totally not creepy at all!) But I realized that the books that I do have are big and bulky and I have to commute 1.5-2 hours to the city and another 1.5-2 hours back home. I like to bring more than one book with me when I commute but since most of them are big fatty's, it's starting to weigh me down. The book that I've been dying to read for some time would be World War Z since I generally like to read the book first before seeing the movie. Plus, zombies are hip and cool now :P

Thank you so much for running this contest! Congratulations in advance to the winner :)

World War Z.

pecksniffian

You need this! and I need this because the common thread in all of these books is....EVERYONE DIES!

pecksniffian

It is pretty hard to shop for parents. My sister and I got ours some $50 sneakers to which he deemed too nice to wear to work and thus wears some $10 pair he got himself from walmart O_o. I already have a e-ink reader to which I love, but my sister keeps "borrowing" it, figured this might be great for her.

Ebook

No trials for the rest of the week, while the prosecutors are in meetings. So we've mostly been trying (and failing miserably) to look busy.

SO after arraignments this morning, I've spent the rest of the day finishing up World War Z for book club, and trying to get some reviews written. But it's one of those boring days where one gets so lazy that one just ends up diving into Wikipedia and dinking around online.

Must...be...productive!

Saw the previews for World War Z and thought it looked good. I imagine the book has to be 100 times better...

1. Even though there's a fight, there's also love in hockey! (I saw this earlier on /r/hockey and it made me smile)
   
2. You'll realize in your second and subsequent relationships that you're completely right for wanting the things that you want. I know it's hard now, but there will come a day when it will click (either while still with this guy or after) that you'll be better off either on your own, or that a new person you've met will truly make you feel special and won't make you feel hurt for having valid feelings. It sounds like this guy doesn't really want that. Good luck!
   
   Diary of a Madman
   
   I'd like to finally read World War Z, thanks for the contest! :D

match

Pretty Leather Case!

World War Z

World War Z (the book) is not anything like the movie. Not at all. The only thing they have in common is the title.

You would really like WWZ, and it's at your reading level. Here's the link.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.

World War Z, by Max Brooks

I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

I started to type out a few others, but then re-read your post, and realized that the books I was recommending were heavy on psychological and existential angst.

My name is Daniel and I'm a pretty big fan of this book right here.

World War Z

Pecksniffian

Thanks for a wonderful contest.