2 out of 4 stars
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The Ultimate Guide to Zombies is a non-fiction written by Dave Robertson. In this book, Robertson talks about a variety of topics relating to zombies, from how the “zombie imagination” entered the American public consciousness, to how the “zombie imagination” evolved through time. The book also discusses zombies as metaphors in films, zombie anatomy, scientific origins of zombies in fiction, zombie popularity as compared to other monster types, weapons and tactics for a zombie apocalypse, zombie as a fandom, zombies interpreted in biblical texts, and many more.
Each chapter of the book discusses a particular topic which can be read as a standalone article. The content of the book is mostly based on zombie films from the 1930s to 2016. The author also provides recommendations to people who wish to explore the zombie pop culture, whether they be in films, books, or even weapon shops.
The research applied for this book is wide-ranging. The author doesn’t limit his research to zombie pop culture; he also looks into the social and cultural history of zombies, as well as general ideas in neuroscience, virology, and parasitology. The history part is satisfactory as he provides enough information to make sense of how the “zombie imagination” came to be. His discussion about zombie anatomy is interesting for anyone who wants to learn about human brain anatomy.
Of course, the book is more than just information and research. The book also contains some funny interjections and witty responses like: “Many reviewers objected to the amount of gore and blood and downgraded the movie for it. (Wimps.)”. However, I feel that there are multiple missed opportunities for funny interjections. In addition, some sentences aren’t clear if they are actual ironies or not, but I guess that’s just the beauty and difficulty of writing a good irony.
Despite the author’s wide-ranging research, his sources for zombie pop culture are primarily films. I can’t say if this is avoidable since other zombie media such as video games and books seem to be inspired by the films; however, this phenomenon is yet to be studied. The book’s content is mainly derived from American sources; the book also covers zombies in different cultures, but it doesn’t do so extensively. Even with the vast information the author provides, he doesn’t seem to add anything new. He just merely compiles the information and publishes it in book form. Since he doesn’t add anything from his insights, any avid zombie fan would find the book unoriginal; a fan can just watch any zombie film she encounters, and she can still pick up the relevant aspects of zombie pop culture.
A chapter in the book, “Why We Love Them,” provides an argument on why zombies are more popular than other monster types, such as vampires. When the author points out that a certain popular zombie movie has a higher box office than a certain vampire movie, he fails to mention that these movies are of different years (the zombie one in 2013, the other in 1994); thus, the comparison of these movies doesn’t actually say much. (And yes, he doesn’t compare the zombie movie with Twilight.) Of course, I shouldn’t even be trying to ruin his appreciation for zombies, but an argument with misleading information can’t be easily ignored.
There are also some grammatical errors in the book, like “Also, the cause of many zombie outbreaks are intentionally vague...” and some tense inconsistencies in a paragraph. There is not much to say about the book that is unique from other works. I would still rate this book 2 out of 4 stars, if not 2.5, mainly due to grammatical errors and the unoriginal content. But overall, I think the book is a sufficient compilation, albeit a generic one. I can only recommend this book to Americans who wish to become zombie fans but don’t know where to start; thus, the title The Ultimate Guide to Zombies. In my opinion, it’s a decent guide, but not really an “ultimate guide.”
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The Ultimate Guide to Zombies
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