The Anthropocene Reviewed (Signed Edition): Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

Perhaps best known for his award-winning and best-selling young adult novels, John Green shows his capacity for insightful nonfiction in The Anthropocene Reviewed. In the book, Green reviews wide-ranging aspects of the human-centered planet, from Mario Kart to viral meningitis to the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. These reviews, some of which come from Green’s podcast of the same name, integrate Green’s own experiences with reflections on human history, culture, and science, creating a volume that is at once deeply personal and able to speak to humanity broadly.

Green’s writing is researched, funny, and emotional without being sentimental. In these reviews, he does not hesitate to identify the ways the subjects of his reviews exemplify the flaws of the human experience—but he also does not hesitate to lean into the beauty of the world, to name it and revel in it without ignoring the strife that exists alongside it. The Anthropocene Reviewed will remind readers of the bizarre, terrible, and wonderful nature of life during the Anthropocene and inspire them, too, to take a moment to be awestruck by its chaos and beauty.