Paul DeSantis
John Green has achieved such a monumental level of celebrity that I was initially unsure if people really enjoyed his work, or if his fans just loved that he put out another thing for them to consume. I have definitely caught a "vlogbrothers" video here and there and I loved "Crash Course World History" when I was in school, but I wanted to read this book without the outside context of John Green as much as I could.
As with many other "collection of essays," I think your connection to the author really drives where or not you find the writing interesting, and I don't think I would have picked it up unless someone who was a fan of John and enjoyed reading the book hadn't recommended it to me.
Ultimately, I think the book is extremely well written and is very captivating. John does a great job of taking some smaller ideas and concepts and adding some of his own personal experiences to make the idea just feel so important. There are a lot of aspects of daily life that just go underappreciated, and it's nice to think about sunsets, Halley's comet, and Diet Dr Pepper sometimes when there is so much else going on. I was also surprised to see that some people dislike the "meandering" that happens in each chapter, but ultimately the meandering is the book. Anyone can read the Wikipedia page about the Lascaux Cave Paintings and get the gist of what they are, but John's writing can help us to understand what the cave means.
I would definitely recommend giving this book a read. The audiobook is also particularly good, John is a great narrator. I am also interested in checking out some of his fiction, although I do worry that I am too far from the intended demographic. We will have to see.
John Green has achieved such a monumental level of celebrity that I was initially unsure if people really enjoyed his work, or if his fans just loved that he put out another thing for them to consume. I have definitely caught a "vlogbrothers" video here and there and I loved "Crash Course World History" when I was in school, but I wanted to read this book without the outside context of John Green as much as I could.
As with many other "collection of essays," I think your connection to the author really drives where or not you find the writing interesting, and I don't think I would have picked it up unless someone who was a fan of John and enjoyed reading the book hadn't recommended it to me.
Ultimately, I think the book is extremely well written and is very captivating. John does a great job of taking some smaller ideas and concepts and adding some of his own personal experiences to make the idea just feel so important. There are a lot of aspects of daily life that just go underappreciated, and it's nice to think about sunsets, Halley's comet, and Diet Dr Pepper sometimes when there is so much else going on. I was also surprised to see that some people dislike the "meandering" that happens in each chapter, but ultimately the meandering is the book. Anyone can read the Wikipedia page about the Lascaux Cave Paintings and get the gist of what they are, but John's writing can help us to understand what the cave means.
I would definitely recommend giving this book a read. The audiobook is also particularly good, John is a great narrator. I am also interested in checking out some of his fiction, although I do worry that I am too far from the intended demographic. We will have to see.