Skip to content

John writes his first nonfiction book, The Anthropocene Reviewed (2020)

story · status: told 8×, last update 2025 · last event: retold (2025-06-03)

John wrote The Anthropocene Reviewed, his first nonfiction book and first attempt to write about himself, through 2020 and a hard early 2021, finishing the last edits in March 2021; he later said it found a broad audience, though smaller than his novels'.

Part of: The Anthropocene Reviewed book: announcement and publication (2020)

Told alongside: John's regular exercise after 100 Days and its effects on his body and mind (2017) · John: The Anthropocene Reviewed will not be his last book (2021) · John: he will never again sign his name 250,000 times (2021) · John: narrate The Anthropocene Reviewed audiobook (2020) · John: sign about 150,000 sheets so every US and Canadian pre-order and first-printing copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed book is autographed (2020) · John draws 170,000 circles to grasp the US COVID-19 death toll (2020)

About: The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

date event what video
2020-09-01 told John says writing these essays has been the most fun he has had writing since maybe ever, and he is going back to it. get the show on 00:03:24
2020-12-29 update The book John wanted to finish in 2020 is The Anthropocene Reviewed; he has not exactly finished it but has made good progress. → refers to Endings · Beginnings Looking Back at My 2020 Goals 00:00:58
2021-01-12 update John stands by his goal of finishing his book, which he calls extremely in-depth Yelp reviews, coming out later this year (2021). (playful) My 2021 Vision Board 00:00:00
2021-01-26 update In a comment John says he has fixed in the book a detail about what sycamore trees are made of, after a viewer pointed out a sycamore isn't mostly water and dirt. The Sycamore Tree: The Anthropocene Reviewed video description
2021-02-23 update Despite its grandiose title, John says, The Anthropocene Reviewed is a very personal book, his first attempt to write about his actual self. A Little Joy and Color in an Otherwise Unbearably Bland Life 00:00:58
2021-03-02 update The last edits for The Anthropocene Reviewed book are due in three days, which is also a little stressful for John. What's Not in the Frame 00:03:35
2021-03-30 update John has had a very rough period finishing the book, mostly from things more important than books (family health, managing his brain disorder), but partly from the book. I did it! 00:02:25
2021-05-18 retold After a long three years and a really long year and a half, John is so grateful the book is here. Saying What I've Needed to Say to Hank for a While 00:02:32
2021-05-25 (happened 2020) retold In early 2020, after two years of writing the podcast, a novel coronavirus appeared, and John began to write about the only thing he could write about. The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated 00:12:53
2021-11-23 (said on 2021-10-28, implied) retold 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. I have been playing a small trick on you. 00:02:26
2021-12-14 retold In a comment John thanks people for sharing The Anthropocene Reviewed, which is suddenly finding many new readers, and says he loved writing nonfiction too. MAKE. BELIEVE. creator comment
2022-09-20 retold 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. Against Nihilism 00:00:58
2023-01-03 mentioned John's past goals included exercising 150 minutes a week and finishing The Anthropocene Reviewed book, and he has a pretty good track record of meeting them. TAKE IT DOWN A NOTCH 00:00:58
2023-10-17 retold 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. My Next Book 00:01:56
2025-06-03 retold 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. My Lies 00:02:20

Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).

What is said about it

11 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).