Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies

This book was surprisingly delightful. There are tons of Max Brooks wannabes out in the world shelling out theories and rehashing old jokes, but this book is different. Also Max Brooks wrote the forward, and if he approves it, it passes any zombie-related test. Did I mention Max Brooks once called me “sweetheart” at a convention and I got a bit of the vapors? Because that happened.

Anyway, this book. Mogk looks at zombies through the lenses of neuroscience, biology, disaster preparedness, and pop culture. You have a little fun with zombie hypotheticals while learning interesting facts about neuroscience, biology, disaster preparedness, and pop culture. That's the real reason this book is enjoyable instead of 300 pages of parody. It is well researched, using zombies as a focus for a wide range of discussions.

The only part that was eye-rolling was when he discussed “suspected zombie outbreaks” of the past and mentioned Roanoke (a mystery for which circumstantial evidence is pretty high that it is not mystery) and the Anasazi cliff dwellers. It's all fun and games until you start putting actual historical events in the context of zombies.

Otherwise though, this book is a fun way to absorb facts and theorize about my personal favorite monster, although it does make me reevaluate my chances of actually surviving the apocalypse.