John Green

A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green. The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

The Anthropocene Reviewed

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale-from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.[Bokinfo].

Madelaine Jarcew

There’s also the human urge to make things, to paint cave walls and doodle in the margins of to-do lists. Doi once said, “I have to keep on working, otherwise nothing will be brought into existence.” But sometimes I feel like the paper is better before we get ahold of it, when it is still wood. Other times, I love the marks we leave. They feel like gifts and signs, like trail markers in the wilderness.

this spoke to me on a heart-clenching level.

“I cry a lot because I miss people. I cry a lot because they die, and I can’t stop them. They leave me, and I love them more.”

He said, “I’m finding out as I’m aging that I’m in love with the world.”

We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here.

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this ... symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ... podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale--from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar"

The Anthropocene Reviewed (Signed Edition)

they keyboard is my path to having thoughts, and also my path to sharing them. as a kid on the early internet, i loved typing because no one could know how small and thin my hands were, how scared i was all the time, how i struggled to talk out loud. online, back in 1991, i wasn't made of anxious flesh and brittle bone; i was made of keystrokes. when i could no longer bear to be myself, i was able to become for a while a series of keys struck in quick succession.

there's a character in a jacqueline woodson's novel 

who says that he looks into the future and sees only "this big blank space where i should be."

"that chill is in the air," the poem begins, "which the wise know well, and have even learned to bear. / this joy i know, / will soon be under snow."

"way down in the dark which is you", as Robert Penn Warren put it. except its not a darkness. its much worse than that. when my brain plays What's Even the Point, what actually descends upon me is a blizzard of blinding, frozen white light. being in the dark doesn't hurt, but this does, like staring at the sun.

as if im on the moon listening to the air hiss out of my spacesuit, and i cant find the hole. im the vice president of panic, and the president is missing

My early reviews of Diet Dr Pepper and Canada geese were similarly written in the nonfictional version of third-person omniscient narration. 

After Sarah read them, she pointed out that in the Anthropocene, there are no disinterested-observers; there are only participants. 

She explained that when people write reviews, they are really writing a kind of memoir - here's what 𝘮𝘺 experience was eating at this restaurant or getting 𝘮𝘺 hair cut at this barbershop. 

I'd written 1,500 words about Diet Dr Pepper without once mentioning my abiding and deeply personal love of Diet Dr Pepper. 

Iris van der zanden

I know that if I'm hit where I am earnest, I will never recover.

🍵

We are all little fairies, sprinkling meaning dust everywhere we go.

home is that house where you no longer live. Home is before, and you live in after.

And so I try to turn toward that scattered light, belly out, and I tell myself: This doesn't look like a picture. And it doesn't look like a god. It is a sunset, and it is beautiful,

camille leung

He showed me that you could still be crazy and still be human, still be valuable, and still be loved.

nobody ever brings anything small into a bar.

"You are of my flesh but you are not mine own. Fate is your father and you belong to the people, for you shall lead the army of the free."

"When we are young, we drink our coffee with milk and sugar. And as we age, we drink it with milk only, then we drink it black, then we drink it decaf, then we die. Our next eater is at decaf."

Basically, Saunders spoke of Piggly Wiggly as today's Silicon Valley executives talk of their companies: We're not just making money here. We are replenishing the earth.

can't see the wonders that are coming, the moments of light-soaked joy

I wonder if you have people like that in your life, people whose love keeps you going even though they are distant now because of time and geography and everything else that comes between

"When one of us says, 'Look, there's nothing out there,' what we are really saying is, 'I cannot see.'"

"What's 'ostentatious' mean?" And I told him it meant, like, "showy" or "over the top". Todd nodded subtly to himself and then, after a second, said, "Cool. I got them all then." And he had. Perfect score on the SAT.

my way of being, so profoundly shaped by machine logic?

'The world is too much with us; late and soon.'

analyzing the temperature preferences of forty-year old, 154-pound men wearing business suits

This book made me internalize that it is worth realizing that you shouldn't take the existence of anything for granted. We should appreciate the world since nothing is guaranteed to stay the same each day. I learned many things while reading this, way more about sports than I was expecting. It was cool to look at the world through someone else's eyes, I forget that the world is vastly different in how we experience it in our minds. Even with words, I will never know if someone completely understands I perceive or convey in the same way I experience.

It was interesting to revisit peak pandemic times. When the pandemic happened, I remember feeling hopeless for reasons of being utterly to invested in Taylor Swift’s Folklore album convinced she knew my life's current events. At Yosemite, I played The One many times over, and many of Green’s essays -particularly about disease and trees- take me back to that moment in a good reflective way. But many make you also reflect on the destructive nature of humanity and the inequality we inflict on each other and the planet. Yet, in the CNN essay I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact sometimes we only focus on the immediate negative, but the graffiti being demonized read “Happy birthday despite the circumstances." Green shows the complicated nature of humanity- curiosity, greed, humor, destruction, and love we are capable of. It was nice to hear this from a personal perspective.

The essay that truly stuck with me was the world’s largest ball paint. Before I was double digits, I constantly thought about and feared death, the day my souls candle light would go out. I thought about this a lot while staring out a car window which makes realize I probably needed therapy and I saw it as an ever looming threat to my family. It was always there for reasons I will not dive further into this review, but on the flip side I always was thinking about how I could combat it in the sense of being remembered. I fear being forgotten after death yet I know it’s impossible to avoid that fate. Even if you go down in history within one lifetime no one will remember your essence exactly. And then one day the sun will explode and destroy any evidence we were here. Even before that earth will uninhabitable, so I don't know why this scares me so much, and in this essay Green spoke to this fear I have. He also connected it to humans capacity to create and make a meaningful artistic contribution to the human experience. Seeing art as something you contribute and build upon with others was interesting. It didn't quell my fear and candidly did make it a bit worse, but it was comforting to approach this in a new light and know maybe someone will find some meaning to your short contribution to the ball of paint in what you make.

The Kauai oo was awe inspiring and chilling to hear the beautiful last song of a bird desperate for a last companion. Humans may not have meant to make them go extinct, but our actions have consequences even if unintended. The orbital sunrise provided a simple yet real depiction of something beautiful and in humans ability to imagine and survive. It was also nice to know that Green’s notes app is also a void where thoughts that we think make sense go to die and only leave us with the remnants of supposed genius and lack of context, or is a graveyard for tasks that lie forgotten in IOS. When Green also discusses finally finding a short story he wrote when he was younger, and it not being as great as he remembered it also brought me some peace. In an attempt to get rid of things I don’t use, I threw out all my high school essays and English materials, including a series of essays I wrote about coming of age and Avatar the Last air bender. I was convinced it’s the best thing I’ve ever wrote, and even tried to track them down by seeing if I could reactivate my old school accounts which ended up a bust. But they likely weren’t that good, and I still get to keep the feeling and looks I got from my peers when I read them aloud for feedback. So thank you for that one bit of peace.

The Ginko, a beautiful lady I tend to agree, was also meaningful. It showcased strength and sturdiness through time. And for the humans graced by its presence, it provides a place of solitude and celebration to connect people and start the impossible task to convey our experiences to one another. If you haven’t seen a Ginko, I hope you do. I give this book four stars.

Ashley Denktas

This book made me internalize that it is worth realizing that you shouldn't take the existence of anything for granted. We should appreciate the world since nothing is guaranteed to stay the same each day. I learned many things while reading this, way more about sports than I was expecting. It was cool to look at the world through someone else's eyes, I forget that the world is vastly different in how we experience it in our minds. Even with words, I will never know if someone completely understands I perceive or convey in the same way I experience.


It was interesting to revisit peak pandemic times. When the pandemic happened, I remember feeling hopeless for reasons of being utterly to invested in Taylor Swift’s Folklore album convinced she knew my life's current events. At Yosemite, I played The One many times over, and many of Green’s essays -particularly about disease and trees- take me back to that moment in a good reflective way. But many make you also reflect on the destructive nature of humanity and the inequality we inflict on each other and the planet. Yet, in the CNN essay I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact sometimes we only focus on the immediate negative, but the graffiti being demonized read “Happy birthday despite the circumstances." Green shows the complicated nature of humanity- curiosity, greed, humor, destruction, and love we are capable of. It was nice to hear this from a personal perspective.

The essay that truly stuck with me was the world’s largest ball paint. Before I was double digits, I constantly thought about and feared death, the day my souls candle light would go out. I thought about this a lot while staring out a car window which makes realize I probably needed therapy and I saw it as an ever looming threat to my family. It was always there for reasons I will not dive further into this review, but on the flip side I always was thinking about how I could combat it in the sense of being remembered. I fear being forgotten after death yet I know it’s impossible to avoid that fate. Even if you go down in history within one lifetime no one will remember your essence exactly. And then one day the sun will explode and destroy any evidence we were here. Even before that earth will uninhabitable, so I don't know why this scares me so much, and in this essay Green spoke to this fear I have. He also connected it to humans capacity to create and make a meaningful artistic contribution to the human experience. Seeing art as something you contribute and build upon with others was interesting. It didn't quell my fear and candidly did make it a bit worse, but it was comforting to approach this in a new light and know maybe someone will find some meaning to your short contribution to the ball of paint in what you make.

The Kauai oo was awe inspiring and chilling to hear the beautiful last song of a bird desperate for a last companion. Humans may not have meant to make them go extinct, but our actions have consequences even if unintended. The orbital sunrise provided a simple yet real depiction of something beautiful and in humans ability to imagine and survive. It was also nice to know that Green’s notes app is also a void where thoughts that we think make sense go to die and only leave us with the remnants of supposed genius and lack of context, or is a graveyard for tasks that lie forgotten in IOS. When Green also discusses finally finding a short story he wrote when he was younger, and it not being as great as he remembered it also brought me some peace. In an attempt to get rid of things I don’t use, I threw out all my high school essays and English materials, including a series of essays I wrote about coming of age and Avatar the Last air bender. I was convinced it’s the best thing I’ve ever wrote, and even tried to track them down by seeing if I could reactivate my old school accounts which ended up a bust. But they likely weren’t that good, and I still get to keep the feeling and looks I got from my peers when I read them aloud for feedback. So thank you for that one bit of peace.

The Ginko, a beautiful lady I tend to agree, was also meaningful. It showcased strength and sturdiness through time. And for the humans graced by its presence, it provides a place of solitude and celebration to connect people and start the impossible task to convey our experiences to one another. If you haven’t seen a Ginko, I hope you do. I give this book four stars.

Edit Review

big fan of JG reframing mario kart as a tool of socialist education but overall a pretty lightweight and subjective collection of essays. 

did appreciate that a lot of the essays ended up pretty sappy and sentimental and learned that 5 star ratings weren’t really a thing until Amazon.

katie h.

big fan of JG reframing mario kart as a tool of socialist education but overall a pretty lightweight and subjective collection of essays. 

did appreciate that a lot of the essays ended up pretty sappy and sentimental and learned that 5 star ratings weren’t really a thing until Amazon.

i had high hopes for this after recently finishing "everything is tuberculosis" and loving it, but this collection of essays felt shallow compared to his most recent release. the length of the essays were short so it felt like not as much detail and research went into each topic compared to green's deep dive into tuberculosis. saying that though, some of the essays in the latter half of this book were far more enjoyable to read and some quotes really hit in it.

"as if im on the moon listening to air hiss out of my spacesuit, and I can't find the hole. im the vice president of panic, and the president is missing" - paige lewis

i had high hopes for this after recently finishing "everything is tuberculosis" and loving it, but this collection of essays felt shallow compared to his most recent release. the length of the essays were short so it felt like not as much detail and research went into each topic compared to green's deep dive into tuberculosis. saying that though, some of the essays in the latter half of this book were far more enjoyable to read and some quotes really hit in it.

"as if im on the moon listening to air hiss out of my spacesuit, and I can't find the hole. im the vice president of panic, and the president is missing" - paige lewis

This book made me interested in stories I never would’ve thought about and inspired me to write again. Like him, I’ll give this book five stars

Roseanne

This is maybe my new favorite John Green book, I thought about it constantly even when I wasn't reading it. I'm a sucker for learning interesting new facts.

My top 3 favorite reviews in the book were:

Emma Lechner

I give this book 5 stars

This is maybe my new favorite John Green book, I thought about it constantly even when I wasn't reading it. I'm a sucker for learning interesting new facts.

My top 3 favorite reviews in the book were:

- Piggly Wiggly

- The Indianapolis 500

- Lascaux Cave Paintings

I loved this book from cover to cover. It made me cry more than once. reading this as it feels the world is falling apart made me feel a little better. Or a little less alone in the despair. Can’t wait to pass this book around 🥹

Harlee K

Feels meta to review this book with a 5-star rating system, lol 

I loved this book from cover to cover. It made me cry more than once. reading this as it feels the world is falling apart made me feel a little better. Or a little less alone in the despair. Can’t wait to pass this book around 🥹

Instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. “The perfect book for right now.”—People “The Anthropocene Reviewed is essential to the human conversation.”—Library Journal (starred review) The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

First, I feel like such an intellectual knowing the meaning of the Anthropocene.

This was one of the most enjoyable books in my reading history with really valuable insights from John Green. Reviewing and rating random topics? Yes, I am game. There’s so much in life and in our surroundings to look deeper into it and find meaning, and this book inspired me to do that.

Ani Velasquez

First, I feel like such an intellectual knowing the meaning of the Anthropocene.

This was one of the most enjoyable books in my reading history with really valuable insights from John Green. Reviewing and rating random topics? Yes, I am game. There’s so much in life and in our surroundings to look deeper into it and find meaning, and this book inspired me to do that.

Eduardo Sorribas

Alli

Gelaine Trinidad

Reading this book felt like a self-preventative measure against nihilism, despair, and existential dread. John Green brings a glimmer of hope through these essays without glorifying or sounding too optimistic about humankind. I enjoyed his reflections on the pandemic. As per John Green fashion, there are many unique stories embedded with historical context and random trivia which offers readers an interesting point of view. I give John Green’s ability to transcend my capacity to hope and wonder five stars.

Megan Parrott

Hate to be corny … but I give it 5 stars.

Andrea Morales

“I will, sooner or later, be the everything that is part of everything else. but until then: what an astonishment to breathe on this breathing planet. what a blessing to be earth loving earth.”

all i can say: what a joy to have read this book and to see the world through another living, loving, breathing human’s eyes, i give this 6 out of 5 stars

lala

I don’t usually write reviews, but since this book is essentially about reviews, I’ll try.

The only John Green novel I’ve read is The Fault in Our Stars. I’ve seen John and Hank Green roam around the Internet for awhile and I’ve always thought that I can relate more to Hank, given his science background. But reading this, I think I can enjoy the content from this two brothers equally. 

This book started out as a podcast with the same title— I was recommended the podcast by my friend, but given my poor listening skill, a book is better for me, so I was grateful for John Green for turning his podcast into a book.

The Introduction did a superb job of, well, introducing the book. John started out with a quote from Allegra Goodman, who, when asked “whom would you like to write your life story” answered “I seem to be writing it myself. But since I’m a novelist, it’s all in code.” John then wrote that he felt distant from discussing his novels and decided that he doesn’t want to write in code anymore. I think this sums up this book nicely: this book is essentially John Green’s life story, summed up in his reviews about the Anthropocene: a tern for the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. 
In the Introduction, John also talked about how his initial Reviews were completely devoid of himself and only when he puts himself in his reviews were he able to truly pay attention. 

The main thing I love about this book is how John puts himself inside the reviews, and by doing so, he’s putting the human species inside of his reviews. It is bu no means a human-centered reviews of the human-centered planet. I seem to relate and appreciate a lot of touches that John puts in this book, and the overall writing style of John. My favorite reviews were the first halves of the 44 reviews contained in this book. If I had to choose, my favorite would be Academic Decathlon, Sunsets, Harvey, and Sycamore Trees. This book is not only informational but emotional to a level— you get to learn on how the author lives his life through a series of seemingly unrelated stories about stuff.

Overall, I give The Anthropocene Reviewed five stars.

Elisavet Rozaki 

"The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this ... symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ... podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale--from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar"--

An ode to the age of the anthroposcene, Green does not shy away from the ugly, the embarrassing, and the emotional. Funny, frank, and with more than a sprinkle of self deprecating humour (but also coping and overcoming!). Made the mistake of listening to the chapter on googling people in public, big mistake.

Matthew Soeder

i give john greens ability to make me see the world with new eyes 5 stars

amy 

wow 

i give john greens ability to make me see the world with new eyes 5 stars

Listened on audio and really loved this! Learnt some fun facts, was genuinely touched multiple times, and the quirky earnestness still works in essays in a way it doesn't for me in his fiction anymore

chloe rae

"I don't believe we have a choice when it comes to whether we endow the world with meaning. We are all little fairies, sprinkling meaning dust everywhere we go."

John Green has this uncanny ability to directly pierce my heart and this novel is no different. It's really quite simple: I just love him. I love everything he does; his words and thoughts always feel so striking to me and I just...adore him. I hold both him and Hank Green in very high esteem.
As a long time fan of the podcast under the same name, I knew I'd enjoy this novel which is basically just a collection of John's reviews of things that exist in this world, both physical and abstract. He reviews actual objects while also reviewing the IDEA of things; some far-fetched and some ordinary. I loved learning how he felt about sunsets while also learning about cholera in the same book. The bite-sized formula of this book was so fun. This was my subway book the past couple weeks. I'd keep it in my backpack and read it on those long subway rides that music simply can't soothe. It was easy to pick up and put down. It held just the right amount of my attention.
I loved his use of quotes and how he made everything feel so deeply personal. I can't wait to read this again in the future with a highlighter. I also can't wait to eat a hot dog in Iceland.
A must read for John Green fans. A true delight.

Ashleigh Izaguirre

A bunch of my friends have read this book and I love to read recommendations from friends so I picked this one up. I'll admit, I did not get the hype at first. Sometimes reading nonfiction during the semester just feels like work for me. I can't sit down and properly enjoy it because I've got three thirty page readings to get through that week. But then I was granted access to the audiobook (shoutout Kelsey) and that made it so much better. Listening to John Green just talk to me in the same way I like to talk to my friends sometimes was awesome and I found myself feeling like I was just hanging out with a friend and having the kind of simultaneously goofy but intellectually stimulating conversations that the best friendships produce. The real turning point for me was the double whammy of "Auld Lang Syne" and "Googling Strangers"; those two just absolutely gutted me. Overall, a great read. I think for some of it I just wasn't feeling it because of the whole school thing so this may be one I revisit in the future and bump to five stars. But for now, for its refreshing, poignant, and complex commentary, I give The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, four stars.

Of the books I have read, I count two books as actually life changing. The first is Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, the second is this book. I believe this is to be a heartfelt, genuine, and honest dive into the human experience. I love this book and think that everyone should read this. 

Noah Cross

Jackie Lu

Wow i love this book so much I felt so moved and so heard and so amazed i learnt and felt so much John Green I’ll probably never read any of your fiction novels but this one (which is non-fiction) was truly a delight to read and the only book of yours, where when people bring you up at this point of my life, i can say i have read from start to finish and enjoyed hehe

Jun Angelo Cabuguas

part of me wanted to leave this review without a starred rating, but oh my days this is one of my favorite reads. i loved every chapter. john green, you talk good.
i give the anthropocene reviewed five stars.

Ally

I love random facts and finding morality in authors. words <3

The Anthropocene Reviewed Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

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