"Humanity has a new weapon against the living dead and that weapon is Steven Schlozman!"
--New York Times bestselling author Max Brooks... read full description
--New York Times bestselling author Max Brooks... read full description
reviews
Feb 01, 2012
Bird Brian
rated it: 
Since I do autopsies, it was only a matter of time before somebody gave me this book. I’m not a super big fan of horror, but zombies are a pretty good material. They turn you into one of them, which is interesting both literally and allegorically, because people you thought were allies can become aggressors in short order. It undermines a sense of cooperation among the unafflicted, which can be isolating. Then there’s the whole metaphysical thing with zombies about what’s living and what’s dead.
More...
61 comments
like
(39 people liked it)
Jan 09, 2012
Ceridwen
rated it: 
This book made me appreciate what Max Brooks did in World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, because I don't think I appreciated how hard it is to manage a bunch of first person narratives through an institutional lens and, you know, not be boring. A series of hand-written and illustrated journal entries intercut with inter-departmental-ish memos about the diary, The Zombie Autopsies describes a series of, ahem, zombie autopsies. I almost wrote "tells the story of several autopsies"
More...
4 comments
like
(22 people liked it)
Apr 19, 2011
karen
rated it:
i love the idea behind this book, it just wasn't much fun (for me) to read. but then, i am a zombie nerd, not a neuro-nerd. (neurd??)
it is not because of the lack of whizz-bang zombie attacks.
world war z did not have any "zombie action" as such, and i still really enjoyed it. in that book, there were so many unexpected facets of zombie aftermath touched upon,it showed that a great deal of thought about All Things Zombies (the best of all NPR shows) had been taken in More...
it is not because of the lack of whizz-bang zombie attacks.
world war z did not have any "zombie action" as such, and i still really enjoyed it. in that book, there were so many unexpected facets of zombie aftermath touched upon,it showed that a great deal of thought about All Things Zombies (the best of all NPR shows) had been taken in More...
20 comments
like
(35 people liked it)
Nov 17, 2011
Melissa
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Feb 03, 2012
Swan
rated it:
Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse was a good read. It is different from other zombies books. It was very detailed, sometimes over detailed with respect to the autopsies. It seemed like there were things missing in the story line and to me, it seemed like the actual story fell a little short. The author is an actual doctor, which makes sense when you read the book. There was a lot of medical terms used that seemed a little unnecessary for the average reader. I liked the
More...
Oct 28, 2011
brian
rated it: 
This is definitely a niche book. If you are a fan of the zombie genre (and most of us are) and a medical student (that narrows things a bit), then this is the book for you. To the best of my knowledge (gained from an inter view of the author on Monster Talk - http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstert... ), the virus' and prions are solvable. If you put the effort in, you should be able to name the sources of the zombie plague.
This is not a book about fighting zombies with guns, swo More...
This is not a book about fighting zombies with guns, swo More...
May 22, 2011
Lynne
rated it: 
Written by a Harvard psychiatry professor, this book has a different spin than most in the zombie genre. It's not so much a thriller, with bands of refugees racing through the streets trying to stay alive and find a safe haven, as it is a fictional discourse on science and ethics. Told through the diaries of a neuroanatomist on an isolated research facility in the Indian Ocean, the story focuses on autopsies undertaken to determine just what pathogens are involved in the disease. Schlozman adds
More...
Dec 29, 2011
Nic
rated it:
A very quick, enjoyable read if you're familiar with basic anatomy/microbiology and just happen to love zombies! I wish it was longer and had more of a storyline but the reason I wanted to read it was for exploration of scientific reasoning behind zombie symptoms and pathphysiology and this book definitely deliver on that. There was enough of a narrative to keep me interested and the book's so short that it's pretty hard to lose interest. But I can't help but wish the author had made more of an
More...
Jul 25, 2011
Cecilia
rated it:
This book was an okay (and fast) read, though not for the faint of stomach. The premise, here, is that a zombie virus has decimated about 2/3 of the population. Three scientists, working on an island, are trying to find a cure for the virus and are using the method of autopsy to discover how the virus ticks. Of course, the scientists - at the point of read - are all zombies, themselves, or have disappeared; all that is left is their notebook. Luckily, one of the scientists was a graphic medi
More...
Mar 06, 2011
Maria
rated it:
I can't believe I put Jane Eyre on hold to check this out. I'm not sure I really like how it was formatted with boring letters form the UN, a journal that could have been more intriguing and a smattering of letters and journal entries and "official papers" in the end. It felt a bit disorganized. When a book is mainly epistolary and is supposed to contain different "sources" it should be organized according to how you want to readers to feel in the beginning, the middle, and w
More...
2 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Mar 27, 2011
Jasmine
rated it:
I want to write a really good review for this book but I'm not actually going to.
This is a more high brow zombie book, or at least midlevel. there is medical terminology (one review says way too much, one review says way too little, so fuck it's a little bit goldilocks). The pictures are beautiful. The U.N. resolution at the end is as far as I can tell (which isn't any further than model u.n.) written correctly. It addressing really interesting questions like "are zombies human?" More...
This is a more high brow zombie book, or at least midlevel. there is medical terminology (one review says way too much, one review says way too little, so fuck it's a little bit goldilocks). The pictures are beautiful. The U.N. resolution at the end is as far as I can tell (which isn't any further than model u.n.) written correctly. It addressing really interesting questions like "are zombies human?" More...
9 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Mar 11, 2011
Eric
rated it:
I picked up an ARC of this book and read it when I was in the mood for something really dark. It delivered. This short read is full disgustingly gruesome details that only a medical profession could write about this convincingly. The medical details are clearly explained in text, but are sufficient to give the book credibility. Ultimately this is the story of a team of doctors fighting to understand a horrifying disease that they are succumbing to themselves. It is a disease that will rob them o
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 10, 2011
Wan Ni
rated it:
Presented in the style of a biologist/doctor's field notes, this book is set in 2012, after a zombie epidemic has killed more than a third of world population. Blum, the owner of the notes, is required to carry out autopsies on zombies in order to understand the disease. The disease, in the ethos of this book, is known as ANSD - Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Dificiency Syndrome. Characterised by insatiety and hunger for live flesh, arrested physical movements and undeath, the zombies are thos
More...
Jul 02, 2011
Hollowspine
rated it:
Presented like a briefing containing the latest information on the Zombie epidemic this book takes an interesting and not often seen perspective on Zombie lit. Instead of focusing on a group of survivors trying to find a safe haven during a zombie apocalypse, the ultimate deaths of the few characters in the novel is already a foregone conclusion.
The main focus of the novel is to analyze the disease and develop a cure, figure out in this new world what defines a human vs. a NLH (no l More...
The main focus of the novel is to analyze the disease and develop a cure, figure out in this new world what defines a human vs. a NLH (no l More...
Jun 30, 2011
Scott
rated it:
The Zombie Autopsies focuses on the private, hand-written diary of Dr. Stanley Blum, the last scientist sent to the United Nations Sanctuary on the island of Bassas da India in the Indian Ocean where researchers from the UN and the World Health Organization are conducting autopsies on fully-animated zombies to find a cure for the living dead plague that has ravished a third of mankind. Everyone else who has ever traveled to the sanctuary has become infected and eventually turned into a zombie,
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 25, 2011
Jessi
rated it:
First line: "The enclosed documents are highly classified."
This book provided an interesting premise in the proliferation of zombie books recently. Basically, it assumes that the reader is part of an international conference to try to cure the zombie disease. It provides diagrams and the notes of one doctor who participated in several autopsies of "live" zombies and who was able to identify a new and important aspect of the disease. Here's the problem, though: alt More...
This book provided an interesting premise in the proliferation of zombie books recently. Basically, it assumes that the reader is part of an international conference to try to cure the zombie disease. It provides diagrams and the notes of one doctor who participated in several autopsies of "live" zombies and who was able to identify a new and important aspect of the disease. Here's the problem, though: alt More...
Aug 02, 2011
Natasha
rated it:
So the first half of this book, the "journal" half, was interesting if not a little gory. Maybe four stars for the journal half. And then it stops halfway through the books and starts "appendices" that are 95% useless and dumb. There's so much technical jargon that it takes MAJORLY from the entire book and made me drop a star. Lame, lame, LAME.
Also, there's some intense curse words now and then. And the drawings aren't for the faint of heart. That and the drawing More...
Also, there's some intense curse words now and then. And the drawings aren't for the faint of heart. That and the drawing More...
May 04, 2011
Zemkat
rated it:
How do zombies live? How can they survive the massive infection they must have? Why are they so hungry when a typical animal that sick would stop eating? (And why do they hold their arms up in front of them?)
These are some of the questions explored in The Zombie Autopsies, a horror novel structured as a packet for researchers attending a meeting to discuss the fate of humanity during a zombie epidemic.
The author has a medical background, so the focus is on zombiism as More...
These are some of the questions explored in The Zombie Autopsies, a horror novel structured as a packet for researchers attending a meeting to discuss the fate of humanity during a zombie epidemic.
The author has a medical background, so the focus is on zombiism as More...
May 01, 2011
Ariel
rated it:
A generous 3 stars. I'd feel more comfortable at 2.5.
I really like the concept behind this book. It makes the zombie apocalypse seem like a very real possibility rather than a tired theme for a half assed horror flick. It breaks down the spread of the disease, the destruction of humanity and the heroic attempt to find a cure...and theeeen it pretty much ends.
As the team on the island descends into zombiism the pace picks up, and thank god because you can only read through so More...
I really like the concept behind this book. It makes the zombie apocalypse seem like a very real possibility rather than a tired theme for a half assed horror flick. It breaks down the spread of the disease, the destruction of humanity and the heroic attempt to find a cure...and theeeen it pretty much ends.
As the team on the island descends into zombiism the pace picks up, and thank god because you can only read through so More...
May 25, 2011
VJ
rated it:
I'd advise reading this book from back to front. It is written like scientific research paper or manuscript and the appendices provide crucial concept information, protocols, and background information about the disease and the research work group.
The redefinition of what it means to be human and what it means to be dead provoke ethical mental debate. For this alone, I'd recommend this gory bit of medical science fiction, but the drawings are exceptional. Glad they are in shades of More...
The redefinition of what it means to be human and what it means to be dead provoke ethical mental debate. For this alone, I'd recommend this gory bit of medical science fiction, but the drawings are exceptional. Glad they are in shades of More...
Apr 30, 2011
Aaron
rated it:
For me, Zombies are only mildly scary. They seem slow and dumb, and generally interior to most nightmare creatures. The writing style and presentation of this book, both in formatting, and typeface designed to look like pencil notebook entries, gives this a little flair to start but the charm, if it can be called such, dies quickly. Quicker in fact than an infected zombie might. There was a bit of technical knowledge (being written by an actual M.D.) that at first made the whole thing seem more
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 18, 2011
Marc
rated it:
Zombies are cool right now. I’m not sure what inspired their comeback exactly… but they are certainly back and there’s no hiding from them! With shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ and the hugely successful book by Max Brooks ‘World War Z’ it appears that the more realistic the media – the better.
People want to know ‘what would happen if the apocalypse occurred tomorrow?’.
Well… ‘The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse’ aims to answer that question.
First More...
People want to know ‘what would happen if the apocalypse occurred tomorrow?’.
Well… ‘The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse’ aims to answer that question.
First More...
Jan 06, 2012
Liz
rated it:
I can see why “The Zombie Autopsies” got such mixed reviews. This is a book that will only appeal to zombie fans who also possess an interest in medical science. If you don’t have that combined with at least very basic medical and anatomic knowledge, this book will 1) bore and 2) confuse you. It’s more than a bit dry, frankly; it was written by a doctor and reads like it, like a scientific report, even at the “exciting” parts. But that’s the way it should read; this is a record of a scientific s
More...
May 21, 2011
John
rated it:
Interesting approach to the whole zombie genre. As a stand-alone piece, it doesn't really function very well. It is exactly what the book jacket describes--a detailed, if often gory, depiction of zombie autopsies.
HOWEVER, if you are a fan of the recent zombie fiction craze, the book is a wonderful companion piece to "World War Z," "The Zombie Survival Guide," "Pride And Prejudice And Zombies," and the like.
Overall, this is a fun read and not to More...
HOWEVER, if you are a fan of the recent zombie fiction craze, the book is a wonderful companion piece to "World War Z," "The Zombie Survival Guide," "Pride And Prejudice And Zombies," and the like.
Overall, this is a fun read and not to More...
Apr 14, 2011
Laura
rated it:
I'm a detail-oriented, scientific-minded sort of person, which is why this type of book is right up my alley. I love pseudo-realistic books detailing the science behind fictional subjects, such as zombiism. And, honestly, the way The Zombie Autopsies reads, it could easily be taken as fact, especially considering the wackos out there today, with their private labs and endless funds, who are tampering with any number of deadly viruses and toxins, mutating them into even more deadly forms with t
More...
Apr 30, 2011
Nancy
rated it:
This was a fun read: a post-apocalyptic story of scientists trying to understand zombies and develop some sort of treatment plan or vaccine. The book is illustrated with drawings of zombies in various states of decay and has some very vivid imagery in the text, so if you have a weak stomach, consider yourself warned. There is an extensive appendix that assists the plot and answers certain questions that I had while reading it. I didn't read the appendix until after I had already finished the n
More...
Feb 13, 2012
Laura
rated it:
This is one of the worst books I have ever read, in genre or not. As a scientist, I picked up this book with interest, as it was written by another scientist and I thought that might bring a realism to the scientist characters, and some credibility to the science to be portrayed. I was seriously disappointed. Anatomic descriptions were inaccurate, and the illustrations didn't fit the captions in many cases. A picture of a whole brain for example was labeled with something about neurons (cell
More...
Feb 07, 2012
Evannn
rated it:
This book is creepy. It's a clinical and "realistic"* look at what could happen if there really were a zombie apocalypse. I really enjoyed the way the story is told, through the recovered notebook of a doctor sent in to a UN-run island research compound, with appendices full definitions and backstory. It may get dry at times for some, but I got really into the book and had fun reading it.
*Compared to many other zombie apocalypse stories. If you are one to nitpick about a More...
*Compared to many other zombie apocalypse stories. If you are one to nitpick about a More...
Nov 13, 2011
Kristin
rated it:
Loved it, except it was too short. The illustrations were amazing, and I loved the science behind some of my favorite monsters. Some people complain about it being dry, and maybe it was at times, but the book was short, and you were watching these scientists coming apart as they struggled to remain objective. I thought it was great. I would like to see some kind of anthology of short stories set in this world. The cephalopod thing was neat but I didn't get it...I guess I need more science! I'm g
More...
Jul 09, 2011
Mark
rated it:
I heard this author interviewed on one of our public radio stations because he grew up locally. He was witty and gave a good interview. Unfortunately his wit didn't make it into the book. Instead, he took the intellectual approach and wrote it like it was a lab journal. This definitely sets it apart from most zombie films (I'm more familiar with zombie films than books, so I don't know if this is par in that medium). It was an interesting read, and a quick read. I recommend it if you like
More...
