"World War Z" by Max Brooks

"World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War"

After the zombie virus decimated humanity, our planet has gone through many changes. Tibet is the most populous country. Cuba is the center of finance and banking. Russia is back to being an oligarchy. And Max Brooks is traveling the world, interviewing people who survived all over the world, learning what the zombies or "Zach" or "Zed Heads" did to humanity.

The book touches on many different types of people from Chinese doctors to American real estate agents to Russian priests, all with a different voice and story of their own. Although there is no real action, the book does begin at the beginning with the interviews and takes the reader through all the (10 plus) years of turmoil and war. Indeed, in the book, it is still not over. People are still fighting and some countries, such as Iceland are still completely overrun by zombies. But there is hope.

Brooks brings a terrifying view of what could happen, if there were ever zombies, all over the world. Indeed, it made me think out my very own zombie plan (get myself a sharpened hoe and head north to a friend's ski vacation house). It also made me think about sleeping with the lights on. It's so matter of fact that it just makes it that much more of a scary book, although it is not a traditional horror book. It's a scary book for those people who don't like Stephen King or other more typical horror books.

It's usually marketed as an adult book, however, I think that many teenagers would enjoy it. I would give it to teens 15 and up who are interested in documentaries and nonfiction but are looking for something maybe a little more "fun."