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Everything Is Tuberculosis

book · in 66 videos (2023–2026)

John's book Everything Is Tuberculosis: a science story of how TB came to be understood and cured, and a human story of why the cure has been so badly distributed, centred on one boy. Written over years of obsession, it came out on March 18, 2025, with 110,000 signed tip-in sheets and a tour. It got a starred Kirkus review, and John marked its first anniversary on World TB Day.

By: John Green

Videos by year: 2023: 15 · 2024: 20 · 2025: 25 · 2026: 6

Also known as: John's forthcoming book about tuberculosis

Threads

Also named in the threads: Vlogbrothers pre-roll ads and the Vlogbrothers Creator Grants (2014) · John: The Anthropocene Reviewed will not be his last book (2021) · John and Henry Reider, a Sierra Leonean teenager with multidrug-resistant TB he met at Lakka hospital (2019) · John writes his first novel in almost ten years (2025) · P4A 2026 edition

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

tuberculosis (49) · The New York Times (8) · health equity (5) · Turtles All the Way Down (6) · global health (4) · Looking for Alaska (novel) (7) · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) (5) · The Fault in Our Stars (6) · Sharpie (2) · cancer (4)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2023

  • 2023-01-31 · I'm Going Back to College? — John asks why he grew up thinking TB was a disease of 19th-century poets, and why the world is not on fire with the injustice of tuberculosis. — 00:01:27
  • 2023-02-28 · Empathy and its Limits — John says 19th-century invalids' memoirs often express feeling ignored and left behind, as if their community's empathy could not reach them because they had become invisible. — 00:01:27
    • John says he has just read a bunch of 19th-century invalids' memoirs. — 00:02:47
  • 2023-03-28 · My Tuberculosis Reading List — recommendation: John recommends Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan, probably his favorite TB history: approachable and readable yet rigorously researched. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • 2023-06-13 · touched by a king — John's deep-dive topic is tuberculosis, which he calls the oldest, deadliest and, in his opinion, least understood infectious disease in human history. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-07-18 · Tuberculosis Fighters Have a Posse — John says five years ago, at 40, he thought himself fairly well informed but did not know tuberculosis was the world's deadliest infectious disease, which is part of why he is now obsessed with it. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-08-15 · Henry — John says people often ask him why he is obsessed with tuberculosis, and this video is why. — 00:00:00
    • John came home from that trip obsessed with tuberculosis and spent the next few years learning about it, often thinking of and praying for Henry but never daring to ask what happened to him. — 00:03:14
  • 2023-09-05 · I Ain't Even Here, Sergeant. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming. — John says his Cheyenne, Wyoming has been figuring out how tuberculosis's change happened and how to tell its story. — 00:01:40
  • 2023-10-17 · My Next Book — John: Over the last couple of years John has mostly been writing, somewhat obsessively, about tuberculosis, which is exactly what he wants to write about. — 00:02:47
    • John knows there is no massive audience waiting for a new book about tuberculosis but doesn't care much: he writes about what he wants and is passionate about. — 00:03:16
  • 2023-11-28 · John's (Mostly Book) Holiday Gift Recommendations — John admits that yes, he has a favorite tuberculosis book of the year. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • …and 14 statements more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-05-28 · A Midlife Crisis — announcement: John says he is writing a book about the history and presence of tuberculosis, which will come out next year (2025). — 00:02:26
  • 2024-06-25 · taking a break — John must finish his book so it can come out next year (2025), and that alone feels like too much work for his depressed brain. — 00:00:58
  • 2024-09-27 · Is It 2010? IT'S A PARTS VIDEO — announcement: John says that within the next week to 10 days he will make a large-ish tuberculosis announcement of his own, which will explain why he is signing 100,000 sheets of paper. — 00:01:24
  • 2024-10-22 · My New Book: Everything Is Tuberculosis — announcement: John announces his new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, comes out March 18, is available for pre-order now, and he will show its cover. — 00:00:03
    • John says the book is a science story of how TB came to be understood and cured, and a human story of why the cure has been so badly distributed, centred on one boy surviving drug-resistant TB. — 00:01:21
    • John says the boxes behind him are because he is signing 100,000 copies of Everything Is Tuberculosis. — 00:02:50
  • 2024-10-25 · I Don't Want them to Get Away With It… — recommendation: Hank says he was lucky to read John's book Everything Is Tuberculosis early; it changed how he sees all illness, with fascinating histories and stories of present-day tragedies. — 00:04:05
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — John: Asked for his signature count, John says he is at 31,400 of 100,000 signatures, which will take 200 hours. — 00:37:33
  • 2024-12-02 · John, You're Doing Great — Hank tells John he knows he is stressed with a lot to do, but he is doing a good job, Hank is proud of him, and the book is very good and worth the work. — 00:02:33
  • 2024-12-10 · On Writing — John: Having turned in first pass last night, John says the book no longer really belongs to him but to its readers, who will make whatever use they can of it. — 00:00:21
    • Rereading, John sees the book continues 20 years of his work, extending his fascination with illness: cancer in The Fault in Our Stars, OCD in Turtles All the Way Down, plagues in The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:02:39
  • 2024-12-31 · I Just Can't Do It Anymore — John: About 50,000 sheets into the signing, John developed pain in his wrist and especially his shoulder that kept getting worse. — 00:00:38
  • …and 38 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-01-07 · The Format but it hurts to stand up — announcement: John says Everything Is Tuberculosis comes out in just over two months and its tour will be announced tomorrow. — 00:02:07
    • John's first professional intention for the year is to support Everything Is Tuberculosis and his TB work without losing it; he has over 100 days of travel ahead. — 00:03:08
  • 2025-01-10 · SECRET PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT! — announcement: Hank tells viewers that John's book Everything Is Tuberculosis got a starred review in Kirkus. — 00:03:58
  • 2025-02-18 · Gastrointestinal Hypermotility in Tuatara — John says he is never far from despair and lately has been consumed by fear, making it hard to get out of bed and promote his new book Everything Is Tuberculosis, out a month from today. — 00:01:57
  • 2025-02-25 · EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS — announcement: John says this was the first chapter of his new book Everything Is Tuberculosis, out March 18, with signed copies available for pre-order now. — 00:09:27
  • 2025-03-04 · The ANXIETY IS PALPABLE — announcement: John says his new book Everything Is Tuberculosis comes out two weeks from today, and that the current catastrophe makes promoting it feel weird. — 00:00:50
  • 2025-03-14 · Probably the Luckiest Thing in my Life — Hank says having John as his brother is a tremendous benefit, and everyone can have a bit of it through the vlogbrothers channel and the book. (playful) — 00:04:27
  • 2025-03-18 · ITS ALL HAPPENING — announcement: John says his book Everything Is Tuberculosis comes out today and that he is backstage at CBS Mornings, appropriately nervous. — 00:00:00
    • John wishes the book were less timely: he never imagined publishing it while we suddenly and chaotically do so much to worsen the global TB crisis. — 00:01:52
  • 2025-03-21 · The Second Most Important Book in Dublin — Hank congratulates John and thanks him for taking him and everyone on this journey to understand humanity: what we can be and do, and what we should not accept. — 00:00:55
  • 2025-06-03 · My Lies — John: Since finishing Everything Is Tuberculosis John has been writing fiction; it may never come to anything and he will not promise it becomes a book, but the process has been thrilling. — 00:02:49
  • 2025-11-04 · The Real Question — Replying to Hank, John says his tuberculosis obsession is a path into a larger obsession he has had since being a hospital chaplain: why suffering is so unjustly distributed and what human-built systems can do about it. — 00:00:00
  • …and 82 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

Also named in: Why Can't I Take My Meds?

2026

  • 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — John says P4A donations support structural change and individual lives like his friend Henry Reider, in the chat, whom he wrote Everything Is Tuberculosis about and who would not be alive without Partners In Health. — 01:42:50
    • John says it is a barometer of the ill health of our social orders that tuberculosis still thrives though curable for 70 years; it is a glaring injustice and a lens on other injustice, which is why he wrote about it. — 01:44:52
    • John launches a signed mystery book perk: a signed copy of one of his books, such as Turtles All the Way Down, Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, The Anthropocene Reviewed or Everything Is Tuberculosis. — 08:08:39
  • 2026-03-24 · How Panda Express Is Tuberculosis — announcement: John: Today is World TB Day and the first anniversary of the publication of Everything Is Tuberculosis; to celebrate, John talks about things that are at least partly tuberculosis. — 00:00:00
    • John hints that he wrote a whole book chapter on the relationship between leprosy and tuberculosis but later deleted it. (playful) — 00:02:31
    • John thanks viewers for giving Everything Is Tuberculosis an incredible first year and is grateful for how the book has been received. — 00:05:02
  • 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John last published books in consecutive years in 2005 and 2006; now, 20 years later, Everything Is Tuberculosis came out last year (2025) and Hollywood, Ending comes out this year (2026). — 00:00:29
    • John admits he said he would never do this signing again because he has arthritis, and his shoulder, and so on. — 00:03:24
  • 2026-07-28 · 'Are You John Green?' — John says that these days half the time he is recognized as Hank: in Philadelphia on the Everything Is Tuberculosis tour, someone shouted 'Hank Green' and he waved, happy to take credit. (playful) — 00:03:56
  • 2026-08-25 · The Great Thing about Infectious Disease — John: Researching Everything Is Tuberculosis, John read Gail Perkins's memoir The Baby's Cross: infected by raw milk at three, she spent over 13 years in a sanatorium and came home unaccustomed to touch. — 00:03:24
  • 2026-10-20 · Correcting a Mistake in Everything Is Tuberculosis · 50 x 50 Science — announcement: John says that in this video he corrects an important omission from his book Everything Is Tuberculosis. — 00:00:00
    • John says Everything Is Tuberculosis discusses the fatty cell wall but omits efflux pumps. — 00:04:22