amschelly153's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book somehow captures the complexity of the human experience will also just capturing the beauty and every day life. I give it five stars.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bbygirl21's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

spacekee's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jaychayka7777's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny informative relaxing slow-paced

4.0

My favourite essays were Scratch 'n' Sniff Stickers, Humanity's Temporal Range, Velociraptors, Teddy Bears, Sunsets, The Indianapolis 500, Viral Meningitis, and "New Partner"

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

andra_mihaela_s's review

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

3.5 stars

This is my first book by John Green. For many years I stayed away due to the fact that many people seem to really like him as a person, but not find his work compelling. :(

When I saw he published a nonfiction title, better yet..a collection of essay mainly from the podcast he does...I thought this is my chance to see if I enjoy his writing style! ^^

I think this book is personal for him mainly because it was written in the middle of the pandemic.
The subjects he tackles are varied and unique in their own right: from sunsets to favorite bands and places, from sports to the pandemic and mental health, and from important changes at the global scale to a personal journey he needed to put on paper mainly for himself. :)

This book is beautiful, and reading it, I kept imagining his voice and fragile delivery from crash course literature.

In terms of content I loved about a third of essays, liked another, and I was mildly interested in the rest.
Here are some of my favorite chapters: 
-Humanity's Temporal Range
-Halley's Comet
-Lascaux Cave Paintings
-Teddy Bears
-Air-Conditioning
-<b>Sunsets</b>
-<b>Pinguins of Madagascar</b>
-<b>Auld Lang Syne</b>
-<b>Googling Strangers</b>
If you have a copy of the book at hand, you can see that I connected with the first part of the book more...which is not a bad thing. I just vibe with some of the subjects of interest for him, not all. ^_^

I highly recommend this collection of essays if you need something meditative, or are in the mood this reflect on serious subject matters for short periods of time.
In the end, I'm not sure I will ever read more from him, certainly not his earlier work..but a similar project as "The Anthropocene reviewed" will appeal to me.:)
One things is sure...I loved his authorial voice! If you enjoy hearing him talk, give this book a try!

Enjoy

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rensreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

this one is definitely going to be in my top 5 books this year for sure.

there’s just something about talking about things so mundane but have had such a profound impact on your life that really unsettles you, just for a moment. part of it being mundane usually means its insignificant enough to not warrant much attention, but then there are moment where they mark so MANY points in our lives. from teddy bears to sunsets to a hot dog eating contest, green’s life has been touched by so much and he still has so many more experiences to make.

i’m not generally a fan of his other stuff because of the way mass consumption turned his works into romanticism of various mental illnesses and yet this was raw. he held nothing back. he opened himself up and discussed how these little things really affected him during the lowest and highest points of his life. that’s exceedingly brave. and he absolutely should get his flowers for this book.

this felt like a diary and a hug wrapped into one. i loved it.

5 stars! (:

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

readandfindout's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 5 stars

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

theonlybaillie's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings