Non-Tech Reading: World War Z
It seems rare nowadays that I actually read a non-tech book. I just finished "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War", and it was superb!
It is a "future history" book, written as a series of first-person interviews with different people who survive a catastrophic war against the living dead. Basically, in the near future a virus causing a zombie outbreak spreads around the world and drives the human race to the edge of extinction. The book covers the whole timeline of the war, from early attempts at containment and denial, to disastrous military counterattacks, to worldwide panic and the collapse of civilization, to mankind's attempt to regroup and fight back against a global zombie horde numbering in the hundreds of millions.
What makes the book great though isn't the zombies. Really, one could substitute just about any natural disaster or disease in and the story could still work. The strength comes from the wide array of people who are interviewed, some heroic, some selfish, from around the entire planet. The situations described by the survivors are chillingly realistic. What do you do when society collapses? Who is really the enemy, the unthinking zombies or the fellow humans who betray each other to try and survive? How does a leader live with themselves when they have to abandon huge numbers of people to the undead because there aren't enough resources to save everyone? These are the kinds of questions and scenarios the book works through.
Anyway, I won't spoil it any further. It's a great read and a welcome change of subject matter. If you're in the mood for something different, something that will stick in your head and make you wonder "what if?" (and scare you to boot), then give World War Z a look!
I loved the book and I look foward to the movie. Pages 159 through 168 tell the story of the film maker and the movie he shot to boost morale "Victory at Avalon: The Battle of the Five Colleges". Max Brooks (author) has the character saying....."It was the night before their last, worst attack, when a fresh horde from the east was clearly visible on the horizon. The kids were hard at work-sharpening weapons, reinforcing defenses, standing guard on the walls and towers. A song comes floating across the the campus from the loudspeaker that played constant music to keep morale up. A Scripp student, with a voice like an angel, was singing the Roxy Music song. It was such a beautiful rendition, and such a contrast with the raging storm about to hit. I laid it over my "preparing for battle" montage. I still get choked up when I hear it."..... That imagery is great!, but what was the song Max Brooks was thinking of???
Anybody have a guess???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KpCmU5Ljd8
That's a great scene. hope they include it in the movie.