Zombies Of The World, a real (and entertaining) look at the unreal

In a more sensitive time Zombies Of The World would’ve had umpteen hundreds of people calling the police to warn about the hoards of approaching zombies. At times resembling the literary zombie equivalent to The War of The Worlds radio broadcast, this book is a realistic middle grade look at zombies. It’s also much more entertaining than you think it would be, especially for the passive zombie or undead enthusiast.

These aren’t the Plants Vs. Zombies style, nor are they the World War Z species. Zombies Of The World is a look at zombies across the world. It’s the way they look, how they reproduce, where they live and how they act. Some of the zombies are obviously there for lighten the mood, like the Western Mall Zombie. This species exists all over the world, but flourishes in urban environments. Due to their protective nature they’ve been used as night time security guards in some locations. However, it’s probably that insurance costs will make this widespread usage not very practical.

The text is written in a dead pan, scientific manner that makes you question, just for a second if any of this is real. This is done by the wide variety of art that goes along with the text. There are campy illustrations, real photographs, maps of the world, advertisements for groups that help zombies and more. The Manly Action is a pulp book whose cover is shown in the book. There’s a chapter called The Science of Zombies and even a bibliography. I didn’t check to see if the bibliography lists real books about zombies because I want to believe. Just like Fox Mulder, I want to, at least until I see them lumbering towards me.

Zombies Of The World, A Field Guide to the Undead works because the book never once tries to convince you that zombies don’t exist. Have you been to one of those great amusement park rides, like those at Universal or Disney World where the pre-show or the set up is very convincing? You know that you’re not going to be shrunk down to the size of an atom or go to some future nature world, but you want to believe.

This is that book for the zombie people or monster cosplay folks that want to let their imagination go. It’s akin to a group of Hollywood screenwriters getting together in imagining out-of-the-box scenarios. The preface is the only part in the book by Ross Payton that owns up to the premise. His interests are zombies and non-fiction books based on fictional topics. Granted that description might be tongue in cheek, but the result is fun to read if you’re a fan of the undead.

There are affiliate links in this post, because, zombies.