danasaur's review against another edition

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4.5

Particularly excellent as an audiobook!

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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2.75

Formatting would have benefited greatly with the use of footnotes, which in turn would have helped with pacing and flow.

I found myself reading an essay or two about topics I had varying levels of interest in, and on to the next essay I would read the title and often put the book down because I had had enough of the meandering stream of consciousness associations for that session.

There were some things that I found value in, but it wasn’t really my cup of tea.

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bbygirl21's review

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4.0

I was thoroughly surprised by this book. I went in open minded, but I fully expected not to enjoy this book. I don't usually read nonfiction books. I don't go out of my way to find nonfiction books and beyond that general hesitation with nonfiction, the premise of the book didn't really interest me all that much when going into it. But I surprisingly really liked it. I did start to feel a little bored with the book near the end of it. But overall I really enjoyed it and would recommend.

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spacekee's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective

4.0


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youngwessels's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5


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takarakei's review against another edition

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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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erosikessel's review

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5.0


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franzi_'s review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.75


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theonlybaillie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0


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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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