How to survive the zombie apocalypse is my working title for a book I’ve an idea for. It would be essentially a coffee table book of the “How stuff works” variety. The unifying theme being, what is the basic technology we would need to (a) survive, and then (b) gradually rebuild a technological civilisation.
The reason this is fun is because most people not only have no idea how stuff works (hence the success of the eponymous magazine in describing the workings of the internal combustion engine) but also have no idea what is important to civilisation. So this combines engineering geekery with a new, more developed tech tree for Civilization (the 4X PC game), with the tech tree being designed not for what makes a good game, but for what is important . The “apocalypse” side of it shows that we’re going to focus not so closely on strict historical chronological accuracy, but rather on utility. As for the “zombie” side, that’s a signal that we’re not taking the premise too seriously: this isn’t a field guide to being your own Bear Grylls.
In terms of content, some items would be a match for the “How stuff works” model: how to build a water pump, for example. Other content, however, would be about preserving important fundamental knowledge, both technical (crop rotation, and how to make artificial fertiliser) and otherwise. One item could cover money: why it is useful and why it is useful to move from a barter economy to a cash economy. A section on geometry would describe not only some of the basics, but also why this is crucially useful in a low-tech society. Again, historical chronology need not be followed: the ancient Greeks understood mathematical proofs to an extraordinarily sophisticated degree, but didn’t know how to build an arch, and that means dark, stuffy, unhealthy buildings.
In terms of layout, we could score articles for skill level (how to start a fire: easy; how to smelt iron, very difficult) and categorise articles according to the benefits they offer. Some initial ideas for categories
- Health, medicine and first aid
- Agriculture, food and textiles
- Shelter, housing and building
- Tools and toolmaking
- Weaponry and defense
- Economy and society
Posts tagged in this category, HTSTZA, will record more ideas for articles, and structure.