World War Z

This book is hands down amazing. Max Brooks covers nearly every base when it comes to describing the potential zombie war on a global scale. Not only does he manage to portray politics, military strategy, and culture accurately and perceptively, but he also incorporates a strong human element. Even though there are dozens of characters and stories in this book and their chapters all concise, you get a sense of a understanding and can relate with every single one of them. Each character has a strong voice, and with the writing all in the form of dialogue, that is key. There are moments where that the realism is broken in order to provide some vivid prose, but it comes together well enough that it doesn't take away from the overall effect, but rather improves it. In terms of international relations, which is a huge part of the book, Brooks is very obviously well read on the topic, and almost prescient in the way he assesses how each nation and culture will react to such a threat.

The other thing I like about this book a lot is that you can make your pace while reading it. A lot is said about “page-turners” that won't let you put the book down, but sometimes its nice to actually savor a book, and Brooks lets you do that with his use of short chapters. Its also a necessary tactic for a book like this where a lot of the imagery and concepts are gruesome and hard to swallow - it didn't effect me personally, I suppose I'm a bit desensitized, but I know for a lot of people it'll be a tough read. This book can be scary in more ways than one - its disturbing to not only think about the possibility of the walking dead, but also how ill-prepared we are to deal with it. But for all the paranoid thoughts this book might induce in me, I am more than happy to have them, because I fully enjoyed reading this and consider it one of my favorites.