World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks read much like a movie is watched. The multiple stories in the book were broken up into segments and followed at different times. This kind of layout added to the chaos felt by reading their stories. It felt like you were there, after the war, speaking to the survivors and their tales they had to tell. Much like wars that have happened in our history, you can tell from these stories that these people will be haunted by what they saw, felt, and heard throughout the years of the Zombie Wars. Who wouldn't be haunted by the moan issued by the beasts calling more to your location as you try desperately to kill the ones you're already facing? Who wouldn't avoid abandoned cars in case they have a living dead trapped inside it? Who wouldn't have nightmares about thousands of zombies slowly trudging through a field turning everyone they come upon into one of their own?

This is a chilling collection of tales that represent not the fictional idea of zombies, but the realism of how abandoned we would all feel if something should happen to our resources we so heavily rely on. There are diseases we are unable to battle against, there are real threats to our preservation of life if our resources deplete, and there are even real dangers that humans can and will turn against each other if the situation calls for it.

Even if you don't believe there is going to be a zombie uprising, I recommend this book for the underlying hints it gives at what life may be like in the future if something or someone causes great damage to all that we know. Read it as a non-fiction piece, not as fiction. Turn the zombies into another thing to be feared and see if you can see this as our world in the future. What are you going to do about it? How will you change what may be happening? Will you be a zombie? Or will you be a human desperately clawing at the memories you once had? The choice is yours.