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The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

book · in 66 videos (2020–2026)

The Anthropocene Reviewed is John's first nonfiction book, grown from his podcast reviews and published on May 18, 2021, with an audiobook he reads.

By: John Green

Videos by year: 2020: 10 · 2021: 33 · 2022: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2026: 4

Also known as: Anthropocene Reviewed book

Threads

Also named in the threads: John's signing hand stops working right; doctor and occupational therapy (2011) · John's viral meningitis and hospitalisation (2014) · John: sign at least 200,000 copies of Turtles All the Way Down (2017) · The Anthropocene Reviewed: John's podcast reviewing facets of the human-centered planet (2017) · John's regular exercise after 100 Days and its effects on his body and mind (2017) · John: there should be new episodes of The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast in 2021 (2020) · John's weekly 2021 vision board (2021) · John asks readers to add their copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed to the theanthropocenereviewed.com map (2021) · Hank: more people will soon post on theanthropocenereviewed.com (2021) · John reads widely about tuberculosis and 19th-century illness (2022) · Everything Is Tuberculosis: John's nonfiction book about tuberculosis (2024) · P4A 2026 edition

Same name, different thing

The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Often together

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

The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast) (23) · Turtles All the Way Down (10) · The Fault in Our Stars (14) · Sharpie (4) · Looking for Alaska (novel) (8) · Sarah Urist Green (12) · Amazon (4) · Everything Is Tuberculosis (5) · You Are an Artist (2) · The New York Times (5)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2020

  • 2020-08-18 · what's wrong with taking the back streets? — John: After a stressful week, John says he has a long-term plan to draw 170,000 or so circles. — 00:00:00
    • Comparisons help some, but large numbers stay hard to contextualize, so John is making the circles to learn how to count to 170,000; this is circle 589. — 00:03:24
  • 2020-09-01 · get the show on — announcement: John: After a year of expanding and revising podcast reviews and writing new ones, John announces The Anthropocene Reviewed will be a book, his first nonfiction book. — 00:00:58
    • The Anthropocene Reviewed book will be published on May 18, 2021, is available for pre-order now, and will have an audiobook read by John. — 00:01:27
    • As he did with The Fault in Our Stars, John says he will sign the entire first printing of the American and Canadian edition. — 00:01:27
    • John shows his circles: 17,000 drawn so far in his attempt to understand the number 170,000, perhaps enough to freak out YouTube's compression, yet only 10% of the total. — 00:02:26
    • John says writing these essays has been the most fun he has had writing since maybe ever, and he is going back to it. — 00:03:24
  • 2020-10-05 · Thank God It's Over and PIZZAMAS IS HERE!!!!!!! — announcement: John unboxes this year's (2020) items, starting with Circles Pizza John, which combines two of his favorite things, drawing tiny circles and having a mustache, then shirts, a hoodie, a tote, socks, pins, wrapping paper. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • 2020-10-20 · How to Sign Your Name 150,000 Times — John says signing is a way of thanking readers, for buying the book but also for their attention, the hours they will give his work. — 00:01:10
  • 2020-12-29 · Looking Back at My 2020 Goals — announcement: John: The Anthropocene Reviewed book comes out on May 18th, 2021, hopefully. (hedged) — 00:00:50
    • The book John wanted to finish in 2020 is The Anthropocene Reviewed; he has not exactly finished it but has made good progress. — 00:00:58
  • 2020-12-31 · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed — announcement: The description says The Anthropocene Reviewed will soon be a book and every copy of the first printing will be signed by John. — video description
  • …and 18 statements more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

Also named in: Go Play!

2021

  • 2021-01-12 · My 2021 Vision Board — John: To make sure every copy of the first US printing of The Anthropocene Reviewed book is signed, John must sign about 10,000 times a week; the stack he shows is about 600. — 00:02:16
  • 2021-03-16 · How a Book Cover Gets Designed — announcement: John announces that The Anthropocene Reviewed book has a cover, which he shows, and that he will talk about how book covers happen for his books. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-03-30 · I did it! — announcement: John: Today is the last day John can change the book; from tomorrow it is in the hands of the Virginia printers, and on May 18 it will belong to its readers. — 00:02:54
  • 2021-04-20 · Breaking Ground!!! — John just finished recording The Anthropocene Reviewed audiobook, which was fun; he found only one typo. — 00:01:46
  • 2021-05-04 · What the Most-Viewed Vlogbrothers Videos Say about YouTube (and about us) — announcement: John announces a virtual tour for The Anthropocene Reviewed's release, supporting local independent bookstores, with a special guest each night and a new review written together nightly; tickets linked below. — 00:02:55
  • 2021-05-07 · Are We The Same Person? — recommendation: Hank calls John's book unlike any other book, doing something extremely hard, and says John is really good at this. — 00:02:52
  • 2021-05-18 · Saying What I've Needed to Say to Hank for a While — announcement: John announces that The Anthropocene Reviewed book is out today, Tuesday May 18. — 00:00:01
  • 2021-05-25 · The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated — John: Marveling at five-star reviews of everything, John told Hank he had once had an idea to review Canada geese; Hank said: The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:10:02
  • 2021-07-20 · Reviewing Reviews of My Reviews — John says The Anthropocene Reviewed, essays reviewing facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale, has been on the New York Times bestseller list for eight consecutive weeks. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-10-06 · Searching for Betsy in Brazil — announcement: John's book The Anthropocene Reviewed comes out in Brazil this week (week of 4 October 2021); unable to go there because of the state of the world, he celebrates in Brazil, Indiana. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-11-23 (said on 2021-10-28, implied) · I have been playing a small trick on you. — John: Writing and publishing The Anthropocene Reviewed book were both really fun and fulfilling, so John is not in a hurry to write or publish anything. — 00:02:26
  • 2021-12-21 · NOW I AM THE SCIENCE ONE… — announcement: John says a large e-commerce platform recently named The Anthropocene Reviewed book one of the best science books of the year. — 00:00:29
  • …and 114 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2022

  • 2022-01-11 · The Fault in Our Stars - Ten Years Later — John: The Anthropocene Reviewed continues it with historical responses to disease, especially infectious disease. — 00:03:24
    • The books have other themes: Turtles is about what we talk about when we talk about free will, and The Anthropocene Reviewed about what's even the point. — 00:03:24
  • 2022-06-21 · On Disease — John saw his hand doctor because his hand isn't working perfectly; the doctor recalled advising him to sign less, after which John signed 250,000 copies of The Anthropocene Reviewed. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • John says he writes about disease, from OCD in Turtles All the Way Down to plague in The Anthropocene Reviewed, because it strangely circumscribes consciousness and we don't talk about it enough. — 00:01:56
  • 2022-09-20 · Against Nihilism — John wrote The Anthropocene Reviewed to pay attention to where his attention was going: not focus, but consciousness itself, his soul stuff. — 00:00:29
    • In three and a half years writing the book John learned about Staphylococcus aureus and grocery stores, but the biggest, surprising lesson was that he is broadly in favor of humans. — 00:00:58
  • 2022-09-28 · How My Book Became a Hit with Elderly People — John's book The Anthropocene Reviewed came out last May in hardcover but not in paperback. — 00:00:00
    • The description notes The Anthropocene Reviewed is sold in hardcover, audiobook narrated by John, e-book and large print, but not regular paperback, because publishing is weird. — video description
    • There is no paperback of The Anthropocene Reviewed except the large print edition, designed for people who want or need larger type. — 00:00:56
    • Some Amazon buyers click 'paperback' and accidentally buy the large print edition of The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:01:25
    • The algorithm concluded people prefer the large print edition and has shown it disproportionately for four months, making it a USA Today bestseller. — 00:02:24
  • 2022-11-22 · John's 2022 Gift Guide — recommendation: John: Having just written one, John thinks essay collections make great gifts, recommending Toni Morrison's The Source of Self-Regard and Hilary Mantel's Mantel Pieces. — 00:01:27
  • …and 1 statement more in 2022 — all statements of 2022

Also named in: Some Advice

2023

  • 2023-03-07 · What's the Deal with Paperback Publishing? — ask: The description invites viewers to come to the Miami launch of The Anthropocene Reviewed paperback. — video description
    • John announces the paperback of The Anthropocene Reviewed is about to come out and he will launch it in person in Miami, Florida, on March 23; tickets in the description. — 00:00:29
    • John says editions can be specialised by format: The Anthropocene Reviewed audiobook has a couple of reviews that need audio to work. — 00:02:26
    • The Anthropocene Reviewed paperback will include John's reviews of ginkgo trees and of the first art made in space, because he wanted them there. — 00:02:55
    • Part of John wishes the paperback had come out with the hardcover, but he is thrilled it is coming out at all. — 00:02:55
  • 2023-04-18 · goodbye to my friend — John calls Bill a brilliant writer and editor and a wonderful friend who, as readers of The Anthropocene Reviewed may know, kind of saved his life once. — 00:00:13
  • 2023-10-17 · My Next Book — John: Retirement didn't stop John writing, only writing what people expect: he wrote the weird, personal nonfiction book The Anthropocene Reviewed, which found a broad audience, though not as broad as his novels. — 00:01:56
    • John says he is writing, loves writing, and will have a next book, hopefully someday soon. — 00:03:46
  • …and 2 statements more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

Also named in: The P4A 2023 is The Hottest Club on the Internet

2024

  • 2024-02-06 · The Truth of How Books Become Movies — John: With Hollywood not chasing The Anthropocene Reviewed or his forthcoming tuberculosis book, John says this may be his last time seeing hundreds of people make something wonderful together. (hedged) — 00:04:52
  • 2024-12-10 · On Writing — John: 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 has signed 700,000 tip-in sheets over his career, is attached to the process and his Lectrojogger, and says it is a bummer that he will not be able to after this. — 00:01:44
  • …and 2 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-01-21 · Do Audiobooks Count As Reading? — John says The Anthropocene Reviewed audiobook has sold almost as well as the paperback. — 00:03:56
  • 2025-02-25 · EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS — John says reading a new book's first chapter is a Vlogbrothers tradition since he read Paper Towns' first chapter in 2008; both brothers have done it since. — 00:09:27
  • 2025-06-03 · My Lies — John says his two latest books, The Anthropocene Reviewed and Everything Is Tuberculosis, are nonfiction for adults and differ from his novels, not really being about romance, love or friendship. — 00:01:21
    • After he started writing nonfiction John announced he was done with fiction: as in The Anthropocene Reviewed, he no longer saw its point and felt his historical moment could only be met with truth. — 00:02:20
  • 2025-07-01 · What #1 New York Times Bestseller Actually Means — John says Everything Is Tuberculosis has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 14 consecutive weeks, twice as long as The Anthropocene Reviewed, which astonishes him. — 00:00:00

2026

  • 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — John says the closest he has come to a personal memoir is a book of somewhat personal essays, but in The Anthropocene Reviewed he could always deflect, which Danielle Bainbridge never does. — 07:49:31
    • 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
  • 2026-03-31 · 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
  • 2026-08-11 · Hollywood, Ending — announcement: The description says John reads the first chapter of Hollywood, Ending, out everywhere September 22, the eighth part of a series since 2008 in which the brothers read first chapters. — video description
    • John says reading a new book's first chapter is a tradition going back to 2008, when he read the first chapter of Paper Towns before it came out. — 00:06:46
  • 2026-10-13 · My Lungs Are on the Outside of the Body — John says many people on his tour asked why he hasn't written a sequel to The Anthropocene Reviewed; he wants to ask why they want a sequel to his least commercially successful project. (playful) — 00:01:09