Max Brooks: World War Z

[Maggern]

Heard of this but never knew anything about it except it was about zombies. If the author was trying to play on events of the real world he is going by stereotypes. China had the black plague but you don't hear how it devastated China like you do with Europe. You know why? Because the government figured out how to handle it so it wasn't as severe as when it hit Europe. I just read an article from the associated press about the emergency response to the Tuscon Arizona assassination attempt and shooting spree during the Congresswoman Giffords' event. Apparently their was an officer in the fire department who was a part of a unit that specially delt with large emergencies and he refused to go take the call simply because he didn't agree with Gifford's politics. His superiors told him that wasn't his option. Not sure if he eventually went or he decided to call sick and didn't go but by time his unit was eventually dispatched and reached the scene, the last shooting victim had already reached the hospital. If a zombie apocalypse did happen, it won't be as black and white as depicted by the author. Politics always plays into everything. Look what happened with swine flu. And let's not forget the religious angle.

Satire usually is stereotypical. The author wants to comment on his morals, it doesn't mean he really thinks the world is like that. He's writing about his opposition to Chinese media control, capitalist immoral desire for more money over everything else, conflict between the public and the government etc. We can't in this case use the book to argue on his actual beliefs. He's trying to make it extreme to point out his views.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Satire usually is stereotypical. The author wants to comment on his morals, it doesn't mean he really thinks the world is like that. He's writing about his opposition to Chinese media control, capitalist immoral desire for more money over everything else, conflict between the public and the government etc. We can't in this case use the book to argue on his actual beliefs. He's trying to make it extreme to point out his views.

Personally I don't understand how the "individualistic" nature of Americans is how they won the war against zombies. Who ever has read this book... how did that context play? Americans love their sports especially the ones that have a war theme. As they say in sports, there's no "I" in "team."

 

[airsuperiority]

Maybe they're referring to L4D? XD
Other than that, I'll just ignore Western writers. If shit hits the fan in China, I think a city or the adjacent 1 or 2 population areas will be affected, but I believe the instant text messaging and the advantages of Information Age will quickly come into play. Let's not forget the massive mobilization of troops and fast responses of the PLA in 2008. Unlike Tongshan earthquake, the news will spread so fast, and I think we'll see help pouring in from all areas. The infected areas will be quarantined with DMZ surrounding the entire place while medical teams are dispatched to enter. If the infection was spread by other means of transportation, we'll see similar occurrances of response everywhere else. I also believe this plague ain't airborne, otherwise we'll see a similar event such as those of I am Legend.

And I believe China can really gun all the zombies down if they want. I don't think China will have shortage of bullets, but they will start with attempting to cure and disinfect first.

 

[Maggern]

Maybe they're referring to L4D? XD
Other than that, I'll just ignore Western writers. If shit hits the fan in China, I think a city or the adjacent 1 or 2 population areas will be affected, but I believe the instant text messaging and the advantages of Information Age will quickly come into play. Let's not forget the massive mobilization of troops and fast responses of the PLA in 2008. Unlike Tongshan earthquake, the news will spread so fast, and I think we'll see help pouring in from all areas. The infected areas will be quarantined with DMZ surrounding the entire place while medical teams are dispatched to enter. If the infection was spread by other means of transportation, we'll see similar occurrances of response everywhere else. I also believe this plague ain't airborne, otherwise we'll see a similar event such as those of I am Legend.

And I believe China can really gun all the zombies down if they want. I don't think China will have shortage of bullets, but they will start with attempting to cure and disinfect first.

Problem is that there is a plague, and it takes time before a human is infected before he dies and become a zombie. When news reach the proper authorities that a plague is underway (at which point it would be somewhat extensive), hundreds or even thousands of people may have left the area unknowing they are infected. Just look at how SARS spread worldwide before it could be stopped. Take SARS, remove the ability to vaccine or treatment, make it 100% potent and make its bearers actively chase down those not infected, and you have the zombie plague.

Now, Max deals in his first book (The Zombie survival guide, which is DEFINATELY a good read, it's basically the same thing, just without politics. It's just very interesting.) the different scales of a zombie plague outbreak. I think he even conjures an event (among very many others) in the 70s where there is a zombie outbreak in China, but which is successfully put down by the PLA. World War Z is his attempt at describing what would happen if there finally is a full-scale outbreak of such extent that it becomes global and threatens humanity. Of course he has to let some country fail at containing it. I guess he chose China because it has a lot of people, which gives the plague an easier start (as opposed to it starting in, say, Sahara).

 

[airsuperiority]

Problem is that there is a plague, and it takes time before a human is infected before he dies and become a zombie. When news reach the proper authorities that a plague is underway (at which point it would be somewhat extensive), hundreds or even thousands of people may have left the area unknowing they are infected. Just look at how SARS spread worldwide before it could be stopped. Take SARS, remove the ability to vaccine or treatment, make it 100% potent and make its bearers actively chase down those not infected, and you have the zombie plague.

Now, Max deals in his first book (The Zombie survival guide, which is DEFINATELY a good read, it's basically the same thing, just without politics. It's just very interesting.) the different scales of a zombie plague outbreak. I think he even conjures an event (among very many others) in the 70s where there is a zombie outbreak in China, but which is successfully put down by the PLA. World War Z is his attempt at describing what would happen if there finally is a full-scale outbreak of such extent that it becomes global and threatens humanity. Of course he has to let some country fail at containing it. I guess he chose China because it has a lot of people, which gives the plague an easier start (as opposed to it starting in, say, Sahara).

well u do know that sars was attempted to be covered up by ccp. once they knew about it, sars was rather quick to control as soon as anyone with similar syndromes, whether they have the problem or not

if zombie starts at sahara, i think it's already contained lol (the zombie becomes a giant flab of meat)

 

[IronsightSniper]

Maybe they're referring to L4D? XD
Other than that, I'll just ignore Western writers. If shit hits the fan in China, I think a city or the adjacent 1 or 2 population areas will be affected, but I believe the instant text messaging and the advantages of Information Age will quickly come into play. Let's not forget the massive mobilization of troops and fast responses of the PLA in 2008. Unlike Tongshan earthquake, the news will spread so fast, and I think we'll see help pouring in from all areas. The infected areas will be quarantined with DMZ surrounding the entire place while medical teams are dispatched to enter. If the infection was spread by other means of transportation, we'll see similar occurrances of response everywhere else. I also believe this plague ain't airborne, otherwise we'll see a similar event such as those of I am Legend.

And I believe China can really gun all the zombies down if they want. I don't think China will have shortage of bullets, but they will start with attempting to cure and disinfect first.

I'm pretty sure he explains that the reason why the Information age didn't take hold was because the outbreak started in the remote regions of China (don't remember Province names, but it's on one of the border provinces to Central Asia.) That combined with traditional beliefs, stopped the Spread of the Word, but the spread of the disease only grew.

He didn't talk too much about China after that but after the 3 Gorges Dam fell to disrepair and thus breaking into little legos, I think 50-100 million people? died from that, which started a counter-communist revolution in China (not to mention the Zombies). It all wraps up with the Communist government hiding in a bunker and then a rogue Chinese nuclear submarine launching a 9 megaton nuke on it.

Besides, it wouldn't be an Apocalypse if people screwed up and let the Outbreak get out of control.

Personally I don't understand how the "individualistic" nature of Americans is how they won the war against zombies. Who ever has read this book... how did that context play? Americans love their sports especially the ones that have a war theme. As they say in sports, there's no "I" in "team."

I don't think you've read the book.

The Plan on how to eradicate zombies was formed by a South African.

The plan was used by whatever people were left in the world, although the book focused mainly on U.S. efforts, but you should note that U.S. efforts were only for the North American continent (including Mexico.) China, Japan, India, Russia, Europe, Africa, Iran, Iraq, Brazil, cleansed their own countries by themselves.

Problem is that there is a plague, and it takes time before a human is infected before he dies and become a zombie. When news reach the proper authorities that a plague is underway (at which point it would be somewhat extensive), hundreds or even thousands of people may have left the area unknowing they are infected. Just look at how SARS spread worldwide before it could be stopped. Take SARS, remove the ability to vaccine or treatment, make it 100% potent and make its bearers actively chase down those not infected, and you have the zombie plague.

The Solanum virus kills and reanimates within 24 hours.

Dont you have restrictions on what class of gun you can own. Im a bit out of touch but over here machine guns/pistols are strictly forbidden. The best one could own in my day was a semi automatic rifle but mind you way back in the old days because of the work classification I gave myself and because I lived on a rural holding I had no problem legally acquiring gelignite for removing tree stumps.

Getting back to the film culture and make believe look at the stuff Bruce willis acquired in the film "Red" I have no doubt you actually could do that in real life in the USof A but noway over here.

There are Gun restrictions for each state. In California, where I live, the restrictions are tighter, and you can only purchase semi-automatics (I think). But if you went to another state, say, Alabama or Texas, you can buy anything that you can afford and pass the background checks on.

And "Red" wasn't exactly notorious for being realistic.


Speaking about the Gun Culture in America, the reason why World War Z is "unrealistic" is because the outbreak in the U.S. happened because family members weren't ready to kill family members etc. Also, the Government would try to cover up the outbreak (one Chapter of the book highlights how a man in the U.S. created a fake product that cured the outbreak to calm the nerves of people.) So basically, people didn't have knowledge about Zombies. But in real life, you don't even need to go into a Public School or an Elderly home and talk about Zombies because everybody here knows of the people who walk from the dead.

 

[AssassinsMace]

I don't think you've read the book.

The Plan on how to eradicate zombies was formed by a South African.

The plan was used by whatever people were left in the world, although the book focused mainly on U.S. efforts, but you should note that U.S. efforts were only for the North American continent (including Mexico.) China, Japan, India, Russia, Europe, Africa, Iran, Iraq, Brazil, cleansed their own countries by themselves.

Uhh I already said I didn't read the book which is why I asked for clarification.

I'm pretty sure he explains that the reason why the Information age didn't take hold was because the outbreak started in the remote regions of China (don't remember Province names, but it's on one of the border provinces to Central Asia.) That combined with traditional beliefs, stopped the Spread of the Word, but the spread of the disease only grew.

Swine flu showed that wouldn't be true. That started in the US's own backyard and it reached across the world. The first countries it spread to were other developed economies. Why? Because people in developed economies travel more often and yet it spread around the world anyway. And you still hear about cases. I just read about one a few weeks ago in Hungary I think. There was no containment even with all the advantages. If this book is trying to parallel real world reactions, then the author doesn't have a clue.

 

[IronsightSniper]

But remember! America's back yard will get more news coverage than some obscure mountain city in North West China.

Besides that, I think the Solanum virus comes from a plant named, you guessed it, Solanum.

Just for the stragglers-The effects of Solanum is fictional.


Max does have a clue on the spread of the virus, as the Outbreak started in China, moved to Tibet and India, and from there just went global. The best containment was of course quarantine, as the virus only spread by blood contact. What India did was move all survivors to the Mountains, and then destroy the roads, so all Zombies would just fall to the cliffs and hopefully smash their heads.

What the U.K. and other parts of Europe did was hide in Castles. In North America, the situation was different. The people in the East Coast either went Westward or went North. The latter so that the Zombies would freeze and thus, give the survivors a buffer for them to get farther away from the zombies. Unfortunately, those same zombies would thaw later on the year, and then freeze, and repeat, which would prolong their life cycle (in Zombie Survival Guide, he explained that Zombies are susceptable to corrosion, and that the average zombie in a temperate climate will decay in 5 years and the ones in snow will decay in upwards of 20 years.) Everybody else in North America established a "Great Wall" so to say, which encompassed the entire Rockies mountains.

Chinese survivors did something interesting too. The crew of a Chinese nuclear submarine managed to get out of dock before the Zombies overran the port. Before they left, they packed the sub full of Hydroponics equipment to make food, and some of the crewmen brought their families along. They basically sailed for a while and eventually they made radio and eventually, physical contact with what will be known as the "8th Continent of the World", which is basically a collection of boats from around the world in the middle of the pacific. All those boats needed power and a Nuclear submarine being nuclear, was able to provide fresh water and power to all those boats, all those thousands of people, all in the middle of the Pacific.

It's honestly one of the better books I've read and to discount it based on how the virus spreads is just simply ignorant (not that you were.)

 

[hbogyt]

Once the threat of the outbreak has been identified. Its eradication is only a matter of time. You don't even need guns to deal with mass hordes of zombies effectively. Just wear thick clothing and cover yourself 360 degrees, grab a machette and you're ready to rock and roll. I doubt zombies' decaying muscles will allow them to bite through. It takes time for their primitive cognitive ability to figure out how to undo the clothing, if at all. This is where formation comes in. With people covering one another, those zombies won't get that time.

 

[solarz]

Once the threat of the outbreak has been identified. Its eradication is only a matter of time. You don't even need guns to deal with mass hordes of zombies effectively. Just wear thick clothing and cover yourself 360 degrees, grab a machette and you're ready to rock and roll. I doubt zombies' decaying muscles will allow them to bite through. It takes time for their primitive cognitive ability to figure out how to undo the clothing, if at all. This is where formation comes in. With people covering one another, those zombies won't get that time.

What kind of clothing would you need to protect against bites though? I've read contradictory accounts on the strength of human bites, with some claiming it to be extremely powerful.