4 out of 4 stars
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The Ultimate Guide to Zombies by Dave Robertson is a non-fiction book which describes the voodoo Zombies and how its premise was used to make modern-zombies ?in films/movies.
Frankly speaking, most people ?including me ?pray not to meet Zombies as they are frightening and apocalyptic creatures; for the similar reason, there are many people who afraid not to watch Zombie movies/film. What if it happens one day you meet Zombie? Will it be the end of your life? Is it so vital to get prepared for Zombie apocalypse like other natural calamities? This book answers such questions among others which someone can ask about Zombies.
The author started by reporting the information from Stephen Bonsal who was sea traveller in 1900 and William Seabrook when he was living in Haiti in 1929. The information in Bonsal and Seabrook books indicated that, voodoo practitioners ? bokor ? had tendency of using their traditional medicine with sorcerers to feed people (men). Eventually, the person would appear as a dead and buried by his relatives. In the night, the bokors could dig up the grave, open the coffin and revive a person in magic. Henceforth, the person could not retain his original mental status, rather he would become Zombie who is characterized as listless, uncoordinated, automaton, shamble and apocalyptic. This illegal act was practiced secretly in the Haiti society by then and Zombies were used by bokor to toil in their plantations.
The premise derived from Bonsol and Seabrook tales have been used to produce Zombies films ? which caught much attention in America and UK ? which had the similar characteristics with voodoo Zombies. Thereafter, George Romero and his core-workers in production films produced a first Zombie movie known as The Night of the Living Dead, which was quite different from voodoo Zombies. Since then, many Zombie movies have been produced with different features from voodoo Zombies which are purposely used for education and entertainment.
The plot is grammatically well written and its flow is logical with comprehensive information about the Zombies which is so impressive. Moreover, the narration of the historical details of Zombies and their anatomy which is a mixture of art and science is too bizarre and interesting for both fans and non-fans of Zombie films.
Honestly, I appreciate the efforts executed by the author to change the negative attitude ? for those who scare Zombie films ? about the watching Zombies films, despite its adoption difficulties. For instance, the author outlined the CDC slogan that: "....If you are ready for Zombie apocalypse, you are ready for any emergency.” The author vividly reinforced his argument by the elaborating the contribution of Zombies in Politics by giving example of Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, who released a song portraying that, the Nigeria military was used as Zombies to support the government injustice. Apart from politics, the author surprisingly reported that, Zombie apocalypse have already been involved in many occasions such as: fund rising, music, running, weeding, and marketing among others.
Despite all I have mentioned above, ?which indicated the potentiality and how interesting the book was? I still argue some parts in this plot could have been left folded. For instant, the author has depicted that; Zombies and human being are anatomically similar except that, the skull of Zombie is softer than that of human being. It is therefore, agreeable that, teaching the techniques and tools of killing Zombies means training the techniques of killing human being which is too risky.
My claim above that, the author should not have to give much detail about the tools and techniques of killing the Zombie is so insignificant compared with the efforts used by the author to prepare this whodunit. For that reason, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars and I recommend this book to be read by all people who are more than 18 years old.
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The Ultimate Guide to Zombies
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