streberkatze's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

5.0

I'm not sure I would have had the patience to make it through the print version, but I absolutely loved the audiobook. The essays span such a wide range of topics, and John Green's on ever single one of them are so nuanced, intriguing, and often relatable.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

THE AUDIOBOOK! John narrates it himself (I find his voice so soothing) & one of my favorite essays was an audio exclusive. I just described this book to someone as a 'pop culture' book, but I think that does it a great disservice. This book is just so much more than that. I actually have not read any of John Green's novels (yet), but I have been following him and his brother Hank (read The Carls!) for a couple years, so I knew going in that John has a way with words. You may flip through the table of contents to read the titles of the essays and think this book sounds rather ordinary, but John is able to take even the most seemingly mundane topics and weave beautiful connections to (the often brutal) humanity. There were several times when I was misty eyed.

I give John Green's book 5 stars.

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illgiveyouahint's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō  story made me bawl my eyes out. I think I'm gonna have to buy the physical copy so that I can reread it at some point and highlight favourite passages. But also I think it's great to hear an audiobook of a book of essay by the author himself. With fiction it can feel weird since they're narrating their characters but with essays they're narrating their own thoughts which I think is nice. 

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mandaraffe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0


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bujo_bellel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

I liked it, but it took me too long to finish it since its sooo long

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

 - Honestly, who gave John Green the right? Who let him make me experience the fullness of the human condition via audiobook?
- So many essays in this book had me thinking, oh this will be silly. Rating the Disney Hall of Presidents? This will be a laugh. Yes, but then he'll take a roundabout through a seemingly unrelated anecdote and suddenly you're crying while commuting to work.
- I do think a lot of the power of this book comes from the fact that Green wrote much of it during the early stages of the pandemic, and he frequently references that in the text. But it also adds more layers to the essays, helping to bring our current moment into the context of the whole of human history (whether or not that makes you feel better about the state of things...I'm not sure).
- I do recommend the audiobook for this, as Green puts so much emotion into his reading. Plus, you must hear the call of the extinct bird included in one of the essays. I hear the print version has additional notes, though, so I'll be checking that out as well. 

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aargot1's review

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challenging inspiring reflective

5.0


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samchase112's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective

5.0

Part memoir, part essay, John Green's collection of reviews is startlingly profound and deeply thoughtful. There is something for everyone: history, biology, literature, pop culture, sports. I have realized that John Green is just...my kind of guy. We share many of the same interests, many of the same dreams, the same fears. So hearing him detail his anxieties and the things he finds joy in through this carefully constructed narrative was just so damn interesting and engrossing.

Non-fiction John Green is undeniably superior to fictional John Green.

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scruffie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I could hear John's voice in my head while reading this book. Simultaneously sad and anxious and hopeful, it felt very comforting to me; exactly what I needed right now. Medium-paced most of the time, but also slow-paced, on occasion.

Probably like others before me, I give the Anthropocene Reviewed five stars.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective relaxing sad

5.0

the irony of leaving a 5 star scale review on a book that has so much commentary on the 5 star scale is not lost on me, and initially I didn't want to review it for that reason, but I loved it so much that I felt like I should tell you all that. My relationship with John Green as an author goes back almost 10 years. I've always loved his books, his Tumblr posts, and to borrow a line from TFIOS, I would read his grocery lists. Through his fiction he has always captured humanity through such a beautiful and sometimes ugly lense and so when I found out he was coming out with essays on the human condition, I was signed up immediately. It did exactly what I thought it would do. It brought me comfort, made me cry, made me laugh...specifically the chapters "Auld Lang Syne" and "Sycamore Tree" really got me. He reviews things that seem trivial like Dr. Pepper and then a chapter later he's talking about the meaning of life itself. I've really never read anything like this and at the same time I feel like I've read this before because the person who wrote it seems so familiar to me.

For its insight, it's softness in this rough time, and for keeping me company when I can't sleep at night, I give John Green's the anthropocene reviewed 5 stars.

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