Dangit I thought we were gonna have a discussion about my favorite horror novel.. Definitely the most influential book in all of horror other than the obvious Poe/Shelley/Stoker classics.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)
Though they have technically made this book into a movie on three separate occasions (I Am Will Smith, The Omega Man, Last Man on Earth), when you read the book the first thing that comes to mind is "Why the heck haven't they made THIS into a movie??" The detail that they "toss out" in each theatrical attempt is the very stuff that makes it. The deleted the emotion.. Though the ghouls were originally vampires, it was this book that is responsible for everything "zombie" since. Romero picked this material to the bone..