December 2008 Archives

Renee Brown recommends:

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

By: Max Brooks

World War Z is a unique book, presented as a collection of oral histories of the coming zombie apocalypse. Set in locations all over the world and from points of view as varied as the voices they are told in, these stories will have an effect you even if you'd rather they didn't. Max Brooks, son of Mel Brooks, is a master of the horror genre. He tells scary stories like they should be told, with a creepy edge that keeps you looking over your shoulder for the next week...ok, ok, month and yet doesn't leave that nasty taste in your mouth from the gore.

This is the kind of book that makes you believe even when you don't want to. So pull the covers over your head and prepare a plan of escape (just in case) and dig in for an enthralling read.

You can find this book in most public libraries and through AMAZON.COM 

Google's new archive of Life magazine photos is a fun, useful tool. You can do searches like:

• Elvis
• polio
• skyscrapers
• Native Americans

For someone my age (closing in on the big 5-0), these photos are especially neat--Life magazine was a media fixture and the source of so many iconic images when I was growing up.

The magazine goes back as far as the 1800s; the Google archive spans the decades 1860 to 1970.

Robert Miller