World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
While fashions come and go, zombies never get old. Just look at the last 5 years of movies: Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days later, Shawn of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and soon, Hollywood's rendition of World War Z. Here we have spanned horror, thriller, comedy, romantic comedy, and blockbuster action, all in zombies. There are also the slightly more sci-fi bordering on vampire ones like I am Legend, but whatever, the point is zombies are fascinating. Through zombies one can explore human nature, disaster response, and preparedness.
This review undoubtedly lacks from proper context as this is my first experience with a proper zombie novel. Sure, I've tried reading a little HP Lovecraft, but I haven't even cracked a Stephen King novel. That said, I know a good book when I find one. This is one of those books that will ruin the movie for you - once you read it, you'll see how much it will lose in translation to a movie (that said, I am looking forward to the movie). But given its quality, don't worry about seeing the movie first and then reading the book.
In a typical book, there is an introduction, plot buildup, climax, and denouement. Here, the title makes the book a forgone conclusion: there is a worldwide war as humanity fights for its survival against zombies. So how do you take a book with a known plot and keep it interesting?
Masterful writing and a unique format go a long way. The book is a collection of a UN inspectors interviews, or rather the parts of interviews that were too personal for the official report. Max Brooks demonstrates his skill as he writes in many different voices, reminiscent of Flowers for Algernon, creating a well conceived notion of the zombie apocalypse. If and when the zombie apocalypse comes, I hope this book is used by the analysts and governments in defending and rebuilding humanity.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.
With each interview, details of the rise of the zombies and the state of humanity are revealed. Written flat out, the story would be borring, but presented as a series of unique perspectives from various times and places throughout the war, it is fascinating. A simple statement about the virus spreading through human trafficking is not nearly as exciting as hearing the internal conflict of a trafficker. Each chapter is a small window, disconected in time and space from all other chapters. It leaves the reader feeling disjointed and uniformed. But slowly, dripping with dramatic irony, enough information is acquired that the reader, like the survivors during the war, can build up a coherent picture of what is happening and what can be done.
The concept is so well thought out, it is remarkable. With such attention to detail - government attempts at coverup, societal fragmentation, the failure of standard military practice, the South Africa plan - the story leaves you with a dreadful sense of inevitability. How else could things turn out? Given the current socio-economic-political state of the world, how else could things turn out? Its a little depressing.
While the plot's ending is somewhat optimistic - the survival of humanity - it raises the question of an all too dark reality, In the face of great peril, can we put our differences aside to overcome the challenge at hand? In stories like Watchmen (spoiler) where, optimistically a common threat brings people together and ends longstanding wars and conflicts, WWZ shows a more realistic response. Even a threat like the zombie apocalypse isn't enough to immediately overcome longstanding (and often well founded) mistrust between people. Hardliners in positions of authority, in deteriorating chains of command, wield too much power and are just as likely to start a nuclear war as they are to avoid them.
Like all good books, it stands well on its own but is equally interesting as a reflection of modern society.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Traffic
Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)
Author: Tom Vanderbilt
Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving. On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe." The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.
Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely. The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented. While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic. But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.
After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic." Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety. Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis? Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.
Where does traffic come from? That question depends a lot on who you ask. Asking how to fix it gets even more complex. In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic. First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage. The theory continues.
In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA. But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better. Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it. For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears. Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems? Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous? The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results. The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community. Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community. That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.
Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving. The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary. Read the book, you won't be disappointed
Author: Tom Vanderbilt
Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving. On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe." The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.
Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely. The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented. While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic. But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.
After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic." Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety. Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis? Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.
Where does traffic come from? That question depends a lot on who you ask. Asking how to fix it gets even more complex. In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic. First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage. The theory continues.
In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA. But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better. Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it. For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears. Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems? Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous? The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results. The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community. Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community. That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.
Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving. The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary. Read the book, you won't be disappointed
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