Dr. Robert Curran
The Zombie Handbook: An Essential Guide to Zombies and, More Importantly, How to Avoid Them
Review brought to you by OBS staff member Connie
Fans of classic horror films and gothic tales will want to add The Zombie Handbook to their personal library. Combining dramatic narrative with spooky color illustrations, author Robert Curran explains the difference between the zombies of Caribbean folklore and the sinister walking dead mummies from ancient Egypt who are said to rise from their tombs and seek revenge when their burial sites are plundered. Zombies also appear in ancient Celtic folklore, and this book tells of a magical cauldron forged from the helmet of a fallen Welsh god. In ancient Britain it was said that a dead body placed in that cauldron would rise again as a living person. For readers who believe that zombies really do walk the earth at night, here are tips on ways to identify a zombie and survive his attack. Here too are reports that claim to tell of true-life encounters between living men and zombies. This entertaining book combines thrills and chills with touches of macabre humor to offer hours of reading pleasure. It has an elastic place marker bound into the back cover, and it features more than 100 striking color illustrations.
The book is segregrated into several chapters.
Chapter 1 describes what a zombie is and what they usually look like.Chapter 2 tells what areas zombies originate from. Chapter 3 tells you how to avoid or kill a zombie if you see one. Chapter 4 explains that there are several types of zombies and describes each one in detail. Voodoo zombies originate from West Africa and Cuba-they have the power to do supernatural harm to someone. Religious and Cultural zombies come from the Caribbean and other places-they take over the body and can be used for either good or evil depending on the person and the area that they live in. Mummy-come from Egypt-don’t have any thoughts-usually just roam or kill people if they come in contact with anyone. Golem-come from Jewish religion-defends groups of religious people. Marbh Bheo-Night walking dead -they come out at certain times of the year-can do good or harm–originate from Carbbean,Africa,parts of South America and Ireland. Chapter 5 tells different zombie tales-they go into each story based on the location. Osiris and Horus,John Domingo, Dr.Buzzard, Zombie Masters of Walnut Hills-Ohio, Marie Laveau-New Orleans, and Clarivius Narcisse. Chapter 6 is about the zombie armies and talks about the various zombie armies including the three major ones: Cauldron of Rebirth, Denmark Vesey and Gullah Jack, and William Seabrook.
I give this book 5 stars. I loved the colorful illustrations and pictures. It was interesting to read. I just wish there was more stories to read or more facts to learn about. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading this book. Everything was categorized very well by chapters. I like the chapter about the Egyptian mummies the best. 🙂
