Preparing for the Worst

I recently finished reading The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks. This was the book he wrote prior to the simply brilliant World War Z. This is a pretty good book too, though to me it very much comes across like an intermediate step he took as a writer to get to writing that second book.

While both books treat zombies as starkly real, it's interesting the ways in which the two books are different. The Guide is presented more like non-fiction, a "how to" manual in getting through zombie outbreaks of varying degrees. And yet, though more matter of fact, the book also feels like it has tongue planted firmly in cheek more than World War Z. The Guide feels like a good joke told in a very deadpan manner, but World War Z feels very serious.

The bottom line is, I think anyone who enjoys one would enjoy the other. I do recommend this book, and give it a B+. But World War Z is a far superior work, and if you've only got time to read one, that's the one you should go for.