Last week we talked about the movies that can help you prepare for the apocalypse in the form of Ebola (or whatever the next deadly virus turns out to be – including zombies!) but let’s be honest…aren’t books always better than movies?!
Read on to find out the 5 books that are essential to your understanding of just how bad it’s going to get, and why monkeys and vigilantes (and possibly vigilante monkeys) will be chief among the things that end us all.
1. The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe:
This is about what happens when an unknown but incurable virus rips through a small community that the rest of the world things they can cut off from the mainland, and the progress of the disease is disturbingly believable. Spoiler alert: Sorry in advance for the brutal cliffhanger ending.
2. Infected by Scott Sigler:
The first book in this trilogy will hook you and though it’s a little bit lighter on the disease progression and a little heavier on how to problem solve (who doesn’t love a good CIA story?), this isn’t a book you’re going to be able to put down.
3. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:
This recent take on the waves of disease and what’s left in their wake, this dark tale promises to keep you up at night…but one day might find a place on your reference shelf. You know, if you’re one of the lucky (?) ones.
4. The Stand by Stephen King:
Stephen King is reason enough to read this (really long) book if you haven’t yet. The man is the master of horror and when that horror could end up applying to your own life? You want to know just how bad it’s going to get after 99% of us are dead.
5. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston:
This nonfiction tale of the origins of the Ebola virus – and how it almost killed us all twenty years ago – will scare the shit out of you. So, it’s like literary Ebola. Fair warning: only read this if you want your level of panic over the current situation to get you an audition for Fox News.
BONUS. World War Z by Max Brooks:
This book may be fiction, but I’ve never read a more detailed, thought out description of how exactly our worldwide society will fall apart, followed by the same in depth look at what will have to happen in order to even think about putting it back together again. It might be about zombies, but this book should be required reading for anyone who even has a shot at a leadership position in this country. It’s NOTHING like the (really really terrible) film.
So, there you go! What books would you add to the list? Think any of mine are crap? Make sure and tell me in the comments – I love that.
xo
