The Anthropocene Reviewed

aaa I loved all of John Green's YA books (haters don't @ me) but I guess I didn't follow his career supes closely because I didn't know he had a podcast until this book came out? But I LOVED this book. Oh my god. One of the complaints I hear about JG's YA books is that the teens are too deep/articulate/pretentious and I'm like yeah that's why I love them? But what I loved even more about this is that JG didn't even have to pretend to channel a teen he could just be his full deep/articulate/pretentious self. Anyway I just love LOVED this book, and I'm aware that it's not for everyone but it's so extremely my jam. It was interesting reading it so immediately after Hanif Abdurraqib's [b:A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance 49247757 A Little Devil in America Notes in Praise of Black Performance Hanif Abdurraqib https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1606110758l/49247757.SX50.jpg 62219511] bc in some ways they are similar–both personal essays that are also sort of reviews of/analyses of a big variety of things (Little Devil is focused on “Black performance” which is still a big range, and Anthropocene Reviewed is obv even more broad). Hanif's book is big picture looking at structural racism and the strength & beauty that Black artists show despite it. JG's book is big picture looking at...the world itself, but it's really using the big picture to focus on the small picture of JG's anxiety and depression and how he personally carries on in spite of it. When I consider the two of them together (which I'm only doing because they came out around the same time and I read them around the same time), it would seem like JG's book should seem diminished in comparison but actually I really appreciate that JG knows his boundaries, I guess? I guess lately I've been reading a lot of nonfiction that makes me Consider My White Privilege (which is not a new concept to me or anything but there have been a lot of great recent books that have had that effect) and this book isn't about that but instead it's making me Consider The Beauty Of Being Alive (Despite of Everything) which is also a valuable proposition imo.Five stars.