Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

by John Green

John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, History, Science, Health, Medicine, Book Club

198 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012, his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, was met with wide critical acclaim, unprecedented in Green's career. The praise included rave reviews in Time Magazine and The New York Times, on NPR, and from award-winning author Markus Zusak. The book also topped the New York Times Children's Paperback Bestseller list for several weeks. Green has also coauthored a book with David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, published in 2010. The film rights for all his books, with the exception of Will Grayson Will Grayson, have been optioned to major Hollywood Studios.

In 2007, John and his brother Hank were the hosts of a popular internet blog, "Brotherhood 2.0," where they discussed their lives, books and current events every day for a year except for weekends and holidays. They still keep a video blog, now called "The Vlog Brothers," which can be found on the Nerdfighters website, or a direct link here.

Reviews

[liv ❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything is Tuberculosis is a gem in the fact that it is incredibly accessible and interesting while still having incredibly educational, angering material about tuberculosis; a disease which could very feasibly be prevented everywhere right now yet, because of some hand wavy reasons (*cough* greed *cough*), still kills millions annually. While it is a more surface level exploration into the exploitative, uncaring nature of the way the healthcare system is set up, Green does an excellent job showing people why they should care and bringing attention to a problem that a lot of people really don't want to read a dense book about. This serves as a jumping off point, something to make people aware of the injustice happening in third world countries while still being light, reading like a Crash Course video, and, by the end, I would have to agree that everything is in fact tuberculosis, or at least can very easily be traced back to it.

Green's connection to Henry and focus on one patient allowed for the patients to be humanized, to not just be numbers, to be someone real, to force people to see the humanity of others, to make it harder to ignore the senseless pain and suffering, to show that a human life will always be more important than an economic profit. I was lucky enough to see Green talk in Atlanta and he, among others, is doing some incredible work spreading the word and increasing awareness about tuberculosis. While his book ended on a hopeful note, his speech was a little more depressing as recent events have caused us to move even further backwards. Still, he helps bring hope, which can be turned into direct action, which is incredibly important.

Thank you John Green for breaking the cycle of me writing a pre-review for a book I am so excited for because of how much I love the person/concept, having my pre-review be the top review for that book because I am so witty and cool (I joke), then ultimately being disappointed in the book but having my review already be so popular that I get a lot of hate for writing my review. Among the really important things you have done with this book, you have also quelled some of my fear that comes with living in an obsessive-compulsive brain.

"Imagining someone as more than human does much the same work as imagining them as less than human: Either way, the ill are treated as fundamentally other because the social order is frightened by what their frailty reveals about everyone else's."

"And so we we must remember that illness is not only a biomedical phenomenon, but also a constructed one, and how we imagine leprosy or OCD or tuberculosis matters. In a place where the formal healthcare system is not particularly effective at treating an illness, it is easy to imagine how more trusted spaces and people--like churches and faith healers--can be a better bet than doctors and hospitals."

"But of course people are not just their economic productivity. We do not exist primarily to be plugged into cost-benefit analyses. We are here to love and be loved, to understand and be understood. TB intervention is an exceptionally good global health investment, but that is not why I care about TB."

Pre-Read: Welcome to my (least) favorite time of the year: reading a book I am super excited for but that I happen to have the top review for and being hyper aware of the fact that I will get absolutely flamed if I have anything negative to say.

First Impression: I see John Green has finally written the book of his dreams

[ianthereader · Rating 4 out of 5]

If John Green writes it, I’m reading it.

[Casey Carback]

This is the most John Green thing I’ve ever seen.

[Josh Goldenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frankly, John, I would read your grocery lists.

And apparently your books about Tuberculosis too.

[Gabriela Migoto]

Yesterday, John was doing a livestream, signing copies of his book. While he was doing it, he was also talking to people in the chat. I asked him if he ever reads the reviews of his books here on Goodreads. He replied that he does, although he knows it's not the best thing for his mental health because the mean reviews stick with him much more than the good ones do.

I'm not a famous author, but I can imagine that one of the most difficult parts of the job is resisting the temptation to look up your name on Google every day and then spend hours spiraling into bad thoughts because of the mean things people say (anonymously) about you on the internet.

John, I know you're probably never going to read this, but on the off chance that your intrusive thoughts won today and you find yourself reading reviews of your books, I just want to let you know that your books kept me company through many dark moments in my life. I am incredibly grateful to be alive at the same time as you and to experience your amazing projects like Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and Dear Hank and John (or, as you prefer to think of it: Dear John and Hank). Now, stop doomscrolling and go do something that makes you feel happy to be alive—you deserve it.

DFTBA!

[chan ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was really great. i'd already watched/listened to John speak about Tuberculosis but i loved how this touched on history, perception of disease, racism, and so much more. without being overly lengthy/inaccessible. i'm really grateful for what the Green brothers have chosen to do with their influence.

[Brady Lockerby · Rating 4 out of 5]

john green personifies tuberculosis and tells the story of this unnecessarily deadly disease through the eyes of our worlds history and a little boy named Henry that you will grow to fall in love with❤️

[s.penkevich [mental health hiatus] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns out everything is also capitalism and that is why a preventable and curable disease still kills more a million people worldwide each year and remains the deadliest infectious disease. If you are also reminded of how the US intentionally fumbled the response to another recent pandemic, good work, you picked up on the underlying theme. John Green, beloved author, podcaster, global health initiative advocate and just genuinely empathetic Nice Guy of the literary world returns for his second non-fiction work with Everything is Tuberculosis, an endlessly engaging read that blends heartbreak with hope as he examines the notorious disease. Diving into the history of tuberculosis, Green explores how it is truly “everywhere,” having had long-lasting cultural effects on society, the arts (it was often called the “poets disease”, Stetson hats and even Adirondack chairs that were popularized in tuberculosis sanatoriums. It even shows up in stamp collections, such as this 1978 Finnish postage stamp, depicting the 1933 Paimio tuberculosis sanatorium:

The problem with tuberculosis being everywhere is that it definitely shouldn’t be and if pharmaceutical companies valued people over profits the world’s deadliest disease could be a thing of the past. Because, to be honest, until I read this book, I thought it was a thing of the past though, as Green states ‘nothing is so privileged as thinking history belongs to the past,’ so I need to check my privilege there and after all the discourse of 2020 I should have known disease prevention was at the bottom of the list for many people. Especially when that disease is far away though, as Green points out, allowing the problem to continue to fester will only create larger problems and will inevitably affect us as well such as the higher possibility of treatment resistant cases making its way to the US. Which is why Everything is Tuberculosis is such a great book as it is raising awareness while also being wildly accessible to deliver the wealth of research through personal memoir, testimonies, journalism, and delivered with a heavy dose of empathy.

‘And so we have entered a strange era of human history: A preventable, curable infectious disease remains our deadliest. That's the world we are currently choosing.’

I’ve known about John Green for years but have never really been on the “inside” of the fandom. Having read this, I get it. He comes across so well and does seem genuinely interested in helping and excited to educate. I like the guy based on this and I really appreciated the way he centers humanity and empathy. It is also a very quick read, surprisingly so considering the subject matter but this was almost impossible to put down. Green covers such an excellent array of topics and their intersections to show the systemic damage of issues such as profiteering and the troubled history of medical racism and misogyny. The big problem we see is that the disease isn’t something we can’t fix, its just something we choose not to as well as the issue that ‘the cure is where the disease is not, and the disease is where the cure is not.’ Green does a good job of showing us why we should care about a disease that might not currently threaten the reader and his stories about his friend, 17 year old Henry who Green met in a hospital in Sierra Leone, add a heartbreaking human element. Green doesn't eschew stats and medical jargon (though he does make it quite straightforward in layperson’s terminology) but he definitely transcends facts on paper into an impassioned account of the disease and plea for better global health initiatives to stymie the suffering and death.

‘What's different now from 1804 or 1904 is that tuberculosis is curable, and has been since the mid-1950s. We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world.’

This book will certainly infuriate you and remind you that treating a disease isn’t really that profitable leading to a lack of resources in doing so. We may all remember Goldman Sachs asking ‘is curing patients a sustainable business model?’ and then juxtaposing it with Jonas Salk, the virologist who developed a vaccine for polio and refused to patent the vaccine and felt it was unethical to profit from it. Add to this the issue that the current US government officials are slashing foreign aid, disease prevention, the CDC, and basically anything beneficial to tax payers and this will only increase the issue of tuberculosis worldwide. There is currently an issue worldwide with tuberculosis patients unable to get treatment or tests, and the U.S. Agency for International Development has projected a 30% increase in cases worldwide as a direct result of the unemployable hotel chain mascot turned US president cutting medical funding. NOT AWESOME. But this also makes raising awareness all the more important.

‘People are not just their economic productivity. We do not exist primarily to be plugged into cost-benefit analyses. We are here to love and be loved, to understand and be understood.’

I really appreciated the heart and humanity here and Green standing up for victims of disease and attempting to curb the stereotypes about them. He discusses on how people who are‘ ill are treated as fundamentally other because the social order is frightened by what their frailty reveals about everyone else's,’ and that this sort of Othering only leads to perpetuating the spread of disease (such as the stigma around AIDs in the 80s and Reagan’s refusal to take action).

‘Framing illness as even involving morality seems to me a mistake, because of course cancer does not give a shit whether you are a good person. Biology has no moral compass. It does not punish the evil and reward the good. It doesn’t even know about evil and good. Stigma is a way of saying, “You deserved to have this happen,” but implied within the stigma is also, “And I don’t deserve it, so I don’t need to worry about it happening to me.’

The lack of funding and lack of efforts to cure disease is largely a lack of humanity. This is also frustrating in an era where distrust in medicine is a political weapon as well, though pharmaceutical companies and the utter horror that is the US health insurance system that openly price gouges and allows people to die of curable diseases aren’t doing themselves any favors either. ‘Survival is not primarily an act of individual will, of course. It's an act of collective will,’ he tells us, and we must all rally together to help humanity instead of stocks flourish and be healthy.

‘We are powerful enough to light the world at night, to artificially refrigerate food, to leave Earth's atmosphere and orbit it from outer space. But we cannot save those we love from suffering. This is the story of human history as I understand it- the story of the organism that can do so much, but cannot do what it most wants.’

I greatly enjoyed John Green’s Everything is Tuberculosis and certainly learned a LOT here. Its very engaging and accessible without sacrificing depth, which is really wonderful and I’m glad to see him advocating for something so important. A quick read, but one I’m going to think about forever.

4.5/5

‘We cannot address TB only with vaccines and medications. We cannot address it only with comprehensive STP programs. We must also address the root cause of tuberculosis, which is injustice. In a world where everyone can eat, and access healthcare, and be treated humanely, tuberculosis has no chance. Ultimately, we are the cause.
We must also be the cure.’

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost the entirety of the book could’ve gone further, could’ve gone deeper. Hopefully the mass attention this book receives will spark the interest in public health’s inextricable links to a capitalist system, of disability theory and rhetoric, and stories of inequality that exist within and beyond borders we’ve created out of the desperate need for power.

[Amy Biggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

yeah the pharmaceutical industry can eff off

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know that F. Scott Fitzgerald had tuberculosis?

On July 3, 1939, F. Scott Fitzgerald wired his editor, Maxwell Perkins, “Have been writing in bed with tuberculosis.”1

Sadly, my literary boyfriend bestie did not make an appearance in Everything is Tuberculosis, but I am sure John Green will correct this oversight in subsequent versions. :)

Everything is Tuberculosis is a fascinating book about one of the world’s most deadly diseases.

Further, this book helps to fill a gap in the American educational system about world health. What does cutting government funding to global health organizations mean?

This book goes beyond statistics—it puts a name and a face to the disease.

For me, this book hit particularly hard. In 2021, I had over $1 million in medical expenses (I had two heart surgeries: one at Mayo Clinic and one at Cleveland Clinic). I have been incredibly lucky.

But there are people in this world who aren’t as lucky. People who die because they can’t afford a $30 test to accurately diagnose their type of tuberculosis and the $300 it would cost to provide medication.

1 1939; Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, C0101, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $28.00 from Flyleaf in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
Audiobook – Audible for $9.45

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[ଘRory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right? You don't often think "tuberculosis" and "bestseller" in the same breath, unless John Green's name is in the mix!

[Liong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book recommended in Goodreads' New Releases for March 2025 in the nonfiction category.

I enjoyed reading John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, though I’ve never read his popular fiction books, especially The Fault in Our Stars. 🧐

This book opened my eyes. I learned more about tuberculosis—how it's connected to history, products, wars, and not just science or medicine.

After seeing the terrible effects of TB in Sierra Leone in 2019, the author felt driven to help people get better access to treatment and care.

TB is a serious illness that mostly affects poor communities, but it’s a problem we can fix—if we stop ignoring it.

Green uses simple, emotional stories and a little humour to explain complex issues.

Today, he works to raise awareness, fight for lower drug prices, and help make better treatment available to those who need it most. 💪

[Jess • justpeachyreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another day, another hundred reasons to be furious at the government and pharmaceutical industry

[Kristyn Pittman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y’all. Everything really IS tuberculosis

[Traci Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfect nonfiction book for people who do not read nonfiction. It covers a lot of ground and is very easy and accessible. For me, this book was way too surface and lacked the authority of an expert and felt more like a person reciting facts they learned on a topic they're obsessed with (which Green basically admits is what is going on here).

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick question for you, dear reader. Do you know why so often a character coughing into a rag is ominous especially when there ends up being blood? (Think Doc Holliday in Tombstone) That is because the character has tuberculosis and the end is near. Yes, it is a cliche. And it is a cliche because tuberculosis is the deadliest infection in human history and is still killing people to this day. Yes, we do have a cure. Yes, it is still killing people. This is what John Green wants to talk to us about in his book, Everything is Tuberculosis.

Green is ultimately trying to start a conversation with this book. It is not long (less than 200 pages) and there are many ideas and facts highlighted but not beaten into the ground. Mainly, Green tells the story of Henry, a young man he met in Sierra Leone who is battling tuberculosis. His outlook is murky because the care he needs is not readily available. Through his story, Green is able to illuminate the reader on the shame, isolation, and hopelessness that often follows a TB diagnosis in areas without adequate healthcare.

I had a long talk about the book with Lady History Nerd (trademark pending). We went back and forth about what do we do with the information that is in the book. Do we donate to a TB charity? Do we write a congressman? Picket a pharma company? We realized (after a long talk because we are both stubborn, but she gave the vast majority of dismissive looks) that Green wasn't trying to answer any of those questions. He just wanted us to ask them. We have to take it from there.

I think this book will be most effective for people who don't realize the destructive power of TB throughout the years. History nerds will recognize the awful disease and already know how terrible it has been to humans for thousands of years (yes, thousands). But no matter what, everyone will have a lot to think about by the time they put this one down.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Crash Course Books.)

[Nataliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tuberculosis feels like it should be a disease of the past; the disease that many people in the richer parts of the world know very little about. And yet it’s still widespread and just as lethal — it’s just that some of us can have the luxury to be ignorant about it, be protected from it and have access to effective (and expensive) treatments.

But not everyone in the world can afford the luxury of not caring that tuberculosis exists.

And so I think the best thing of John Green’s impassioned (and yes, perhaps indeed a bit obsessive) book about tuberculosis is that his platform allows him to bring some awareness of it to those who otherwise are lucky not to have to be exposed to the knowledge and effects of it.

John Green is not a doctor, and this is not a medical book. There’s a bit of medical information and fascinating tidbits on the history of tuberculosis and its perception and influence on the culture and society through the ages, but mostly his story of tuberculosis is filtered through the perception of a layperson, focusing on social and socioeconomic angle of the disease, on the story of a young sufferer of the disease - Henry Reider whom he met on the visit to Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, on the injustices he sees in the system and access to care and treatment. Green is appalled that access to miraculously lifesaving treatment depends on the lottery of which country you happened to be born in. It’s curable, and yet millions of people die from it still.

Saving lives is not a quite cost-effective, it seems.

“[…] The cure is where the disease is not, and the disease is where the cure is not.”

Since I am already familiar with tuberculosis as a disease, however, I was more fascinated by the history of tuberculosis as it reverberated through our culture. The ever-present consumption of the pre-antibiotic literature, the “white plague” that referred to deathly pallor of the victims. The idealized view of tuberculosis sufferer - thin, pale white, with bright cheeks and giant eyes, physically weak but also obligatorily artistic, dying young and beautiful — that is quite a romanticization of a horrible illness that nevertheless persisted in the culture. And then the swing to the opposite once the cause of TB was discovered to be bacterial in nature — the severe stigmatization of the disease, something too shameful to admit, something associated with poverty and poor hygiene. The culture swung from romanticization to vilification of the victims, and both approaches are terrible. And so are staggering health disparities that Green spotlights.

A person who is fortunate enough not to know much about tuberculosis will learn a lot by the end, and Greene’s impassioned narration makes it feel personal — and whether you like it or not is up to you. It’s designed to make you care and make you interested in learning more, and if it succeeds in that then it’s done its job.

4 stars.

——————
Also posted on my blog.

[Fairuz ᥫ᭡. · Rating 4 out of 5]

𐙚⋆˚✿˖° Okay… so Everything Is Tuberculosis was way more eye-opening than I expected, and somehow John Green made a book about disease feel like half memoir, half podcast, half TED talk 😭.

⭐️ 4 stars — super informative and honestly so engaging, but if you want a deep-dive type book, this isn’t that.

──★ ˙🧷 ̟ !!

I listened to this on audio (narrated by John himself) and ngl, that’s 100% the way to experience it. It felt like listening to a long Crash Course video with extra heart. The mix of history, Henry’s story, and John’s own commentary made the heavy stuff hit harder without ever feeling like homework.

Henry 🥺 — the absolute heart of this book. He’s not just a “case study,” he’s a person, and John centering his story gave the facts actual weight.

John’s commentary — chaotic but thoughtful. He slips between humor, rage at systemic injustice, and little poetic gut-punches in a way only he can.

The history bits — wild how tuberculosis shaped so much: fashion, art, even chairs (??). Like… what do you mean Adirondack chairs are TB culture.

─── ౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

Moments I loved:
📖 John casually connecting TB to capitalism & injustice (and fully calling out greed 👏).
💔 The reminder that TB is still the deadliest infectious disease despite being curable since the 1950s. That line about “we know how to live in a world without tuberculosis, but we choose not to”?? Ouch.
💬 The way stats are always balanced with stories — it keeps you engaged instead of drowning in numbers.
🎧 His narration — so conversational it felt like he was ranting to me directly.

But—yeah—it’s surface level. It scratches at a lot of fascinating points without digging super deep into any one of them. Which isn’t bad, because it makes the book super accessible, but if you’re looking for a heavy, comprehensive TB deep dive, you’ll probably want to grab something else after this.

─── 🌍🦠✨

At the end of the day, this book isn’t trying to be the ultimate tuberculosis textbook. It’s trying to make people care — and on that front, it delivers. It’s approachable, surprisingly funny at times, and still leaves you a little angry.

Everything really is tuberculosis… or at least connected to it somehow.

[Carolyn Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, John Green, for writing this book.

As I listened to this audiobook, I felt my mind, and understanding of tuberculosis, expanding. The way John Green expressed his thoughts and shared the history of “our deadly infection” was fascinating and heartbreaking.

This is such an important read, and I’m honored I got to hear it.

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This non fiction book was really, really good! I was pleasantly surprised and impressed at how good this book actually was. I feel that everyone should read it at least one time in your life. This is coming from a fiction girlie too! It is emotional, informative, reflective and sad. It is very well written and I was fully immersed while reading it! I really learned a lot from reading this book! I give this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars!

Content warnings include death, terminal illness, systemic oppression, racism, war and cancer. I believe that readers who love reading an emotional story with science involved would absolutely love this one!

This book is out now!

[Amanda Krutsick]

UPDATE: I am going to the kickoff of his book tour in Indianapolis on the 15th at 6pm! If you see me come say hi :)

John Green may be the only human on planet Earth who could convince me to read an entire book about tuberculosis, and certainly the only human who could convince me to pre-order a signed copy.

Highly anticipated non-fiction for 2025, and will likely end up on my favorites of the year list.

[Brooke 𝜗𝜚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

—— 𝟒.𝟓 ☆ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬. 🦠

❝𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓—𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.❞

📖┆𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧
🏷️┆𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: ℕ𝕠𝕟-𝔽𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕊𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 & 𝕋𝕖𝕔𝕙𝕟𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕪
📆┆𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 𝟜/𝟙𝟡/𝟚𝟝 - 𝟝/𝟛/𝟚𝟝
📋┆𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
「”John Green, acclaimed author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease.“ 」

❝𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉’𝒔 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕—𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔.❞

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ᴍʏ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ★★★★½
ɢᴏᴏᴅʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 𝟺.𝟻𝟷 ☆ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ
ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅ?: ʏᴇꜱ, ɪꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇꜱᴛꜱ ʏᴏᴜ

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
🦠 ꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ
🦠 ʜɪꜱᴛᴏʀʏ
🦠 ɴᴏɴ ꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ
🦠 ꜰɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ɪɴᴊᴜꜱᴛɪᴄᴇ
🦠 ᴇᴅᴜᴄᴀᴛɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱᴇʟꜰ
🦠 ʜᴇᴀʟᴛʜᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ

❝𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕? 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝑨 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚?❞

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💬┆𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
• If you would’ve told younger me that she would be reading a book about tuberculosis written by the same author as The Fault in Our Stars, a book she was weeping over, she would’ve laughed in your face & asked why. Well, younger me, you are now someone who works in healthcare as a pharmacy technician & you’ve become interested in learning about your field. Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

• When I saw Everything is Tuberculosis was being released, written by John Green of all people, my interest was immediately piqued. I feel like I can’t really do a proper review on this, so I’m going to let the quotes, facts, & statistics do the talking for me.

• I’m glad John Green is bringing more awareness to this disease & how people are suffering who shouldn’t be. Healthcare should not be a luxury. We as a society need to do better, in more ways than one.

✒️𓂃 ᴡʜᴀᴛ ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ:

📌

𝘛𝘉 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯-𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮, 𝙪𝙨.

❝𝑾𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.❞

📌

𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵.

📌

𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 1966 𝘢𝘯𝘥 2012, 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘛𝘉 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺.

📌

𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦.

❝𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒕-𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒚: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚.❞

📌

𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 1985 𝘢𝘯𝘥 2005, 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.

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❝𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒚?❞

[Henk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that is almost impossible not to read in one session. Examines the biological and societal factors related to the disease that still kills most humans every year
And so we have entered a strange era of human history: A preventable, curable infectious disease remains our deadliest. That's the world we are currently choosing.

John Green does an incredible job in Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. I breezed through the book in one day and found it both very informative but also deeply humane.
Over a million people died of tuberculosis in 2023, more than malaria, typhoid and wars combined.
While curable in the rich world since mid 1950s, an estimated 150 million people have died since then, with deaths mostly linked with malnutrition.

Historical context and modern day relevance
Nothing is so privileged as thinking that history belongs in the past Green notes, and I must say I had the same thought that this disease was more part of the 19th century than particularly relevant today. Known as Phthisis till 1900, based on a root of a word for decay, tuberculosis led to massive societal change, leading to people going to the West of the USA to rest their lungs in a dry environment for instance. Stetson caught tuberculosis and became inspired to make better hats in the West, where he moved for his health, leading to the classical cowboy hats.
The three teenage conspirators of Franz Ferdinand all had tuberculosis, which might have made them especially reckless since they were sure to die quite young anyway.
But history, alas is not merely a record of what we do but also of what is done to us

Tuberculosis is theorised to have been carried by infected seals to the Americas, one of the few human diseases that occurred both in the old and the new world. An estimated 2 billion of people is infected currently, with the bacteria growing very slowly compared to other infections.
The main drugs used to fight tuberculosis is over 50 year old, with drugs resistance increasing over time to form a serious problem. Around half of all humans born died before the age of 5 before the 20th century and one analysis found that 15% of all deaths in London before 1730 was caused by tuberculosis, a percentage that doubled in the 19th century. The Bronte sisters died of consumption and Keats died at 24 of TB. Even George Orwell died of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis and the pale complexion (and even white plague) were used interchangeably, due to lungs not performing their oxygen transport function well, leading to a new beauty standard that we see coming back in Dracula.

Modern day stigma of the disease
The disease was where the cure was not and the cure was where the disease was not.
Death rates of tuberculosis in the UK dropped by 90% after streptomycin was introduced in the 1940s, however 1999 Ethiopia illness rates for tuberculosis are as worse as 1882 US rates of prevalence of the disease.

No new drugs to combat tuberculosis have been invented since 1966
Sierra Leone, suffering through war and a collapsing healthcare system, is used by Green as an example of how tuberculosis keeps spreading in the modern world.
Sierra Leone’s per person healthcare budget is c. $60 per person (compared to a staggering €7.129 per capita in my home country of the Netherlands), with advance tuberculosis tests costing $25, marked at an at least 100% profit margin to Danaher corporation, a $137b company that has $24b of revenues annually.

Ultimate we are the cause, we should also be the cure.
Poverty driving the deadliness of the disease, with people not completing their antibiotics cure due to nausea driven by a lack of food. Stigma, social determinants of health, all leading to Green declaring Tuberculosis one of the diseases of injustice, with people in Sierra Leone developing sayings like: You live if you are rich, if you are not, you hope you get lucky.

This is a heartfelt, well researched and humane book on a disease that still has a massive impact, even though we in the rich world avert our eyes. Especially relevant in the context of the massive cuts to development aid and in the knowledge that we haven't developed new medicines against this killer for over 50 years and with diseases knowing no borders in a world full of displacement.

[zoë ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ੈ♡˳ rating: 5 out of 5 stars


ੈ♡˳ summary:
in everything is tuberculosis, john green takes us on a personal, historical, and global journey through the world’s deadliest infectious disease: tuberculosis. blending memoir, public health education, and fierce advocacy, green highlights the stories of those affected by TB—both historically and today—and shines a light on how inequality, pharmaceutical greed, and global neglect have kept this curable disease a crisis.

ੈ♡˳ thoughts:
this book was not what i expected from john green, but it was everything it needed to be. i was honestly shocked at how many reviews tried to drag this book for “pushing a racial agenda”—like be serious. if you think talking about african countries struggling with healthcare access is controversial, maybe take that as a cue to reflect and read more, not less.

green never said tb only affects african nations. he literally talked about european royalty dying from it, the u.s. public health response, and even how tuberculosis played a role in his own family history. what he did do was emphasize the fact that a huge percentage of TB cases and deaths still happen in countries that have been economically exploited and underfunded in healthcare. and he didn’t shy away from calling out big pharma either. honestly, the way he laid out how pharmaceutical companies hoard patents and prevent affordable access to life-saving drugs was infuriating—and something more people need to understand.

this book is as much about the disease as it is about inequality. and i love that green used his platform to center global health justice without turning it into a white savior story. it felt like he was genuinely learning and sharing as he went, not trying to be the voice of anyone else's experience.

also, can we talk about how he made all of this readable? like somehow it’s both deeply informative and still very “john green” in its storytelling style. it reminded me why i loved his writing in the first place.

if you’re into public health, social justice, or just want to learn something important while feeling a million things—this is worth picking up.

ੈ♡˳ fave quotes:
➼ “this is a book about tuberculosis, but it is also about how we understand the world around us—and how that understanding might shape the world for the better.”

➼ “the problem is not that people with tuberculosis are poor. the problem is that people are poor, and that poverty makes them vulnerable to tuberculosis.”

➼ “if you can be cured, you should be cured. that is the simplest moral proposition i know.”

[Jade Pierce · Rating 1 out of 5]

just kidding. John, get out of the one star reviews. it's bananas good.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read a book about a particular disease, I immediately begin to suspect that I may have that disease. Strange, considering that I don't think that I'm a hypochondriac. It only happens when I read books. It may also be a testament to how well-written the particular book is and how terrifying the disease is. I remember reading Richard Preston's book "The Hot Zone", which was about Ebola, and I stayed indoors for about a month afraid of catching it. (It also, according to my wife, could be that I'm an annoying narcissist, and I have to have everything be about me. Whatever.)

John Green's "Everything is Tuberculosis" is my new terrifying disease book. I've had a nasty cough for over a week now, and I'm fairly certain (35%) that I may have tuberculosis (a.k.a. phthsis, a.k.a. consumption). If I hadn't read the damn book, I would have blithely gone through life with this cough, thinking it's nothing more than a summer sinus cold brought on by allergies, the same damn cold I get almost every year at this time. But, nope: this year, I think it's tuberculosis. So, thanks, John Green.

Green, by the way, is an author I have never read until now. I think it's mainly because I've never been interested in reading his books, most of which are targeted for young adults, and they seem to be about kids who are dying from disease. You have to really be in a mood to read books about kids dying from disease.

"Everything is Tuberculosis" is, apparently, different from a typical Green novel in that it's nonfiction. It's similar in that it's about kids dying from disease, so there's that.

Inappropriate flippancy aside, this book was extremely fascinating and a riveting read. In a short amount of pages, Green examines nearly all aspects of an insidious disease that few people in the Western world think about anymore, which is weird because it is still infecting, and killing, people in extremely large numbers. In this country. The statistics are actually terrifying, and I won't share them because I don't want any of you to become hypochondriacs.

What Green does brilliantly and effectively in this book, though, is make the case that tuberculosis is not just a horrible disease that literally affects millions of people, globally, a year, but that it is a disease perpetuated by systemic racism and capitalism. His argument that tuberculosis is a disease that we could easily eradicate if we wanted to is a solid one. We just don't want to, especially since most of the victims of tuberculosis are poor and non-white. (White people, historically, don't give a shit about poor non-white people.) And it's just not "cost-effective" to get the proper treatment to poor non-white areas.

I highly recommend this book, if you are at all interested in the intersections of science, racism, and greed.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If two years ago you would’ve recommended I read a nonfiction book about the topic of tuberculosis, I would have given you side eye. But here I am in 2025 not only reading a book about it, but also telling you that it is an incredibly engaging and accessible read. I think the only person who could’ve enticed me to read a book about this topic is John Green… because his books are always so human and thought provoking. He doesn’t dare you or shame you to think hard about things or talk down to you; he just writes in a way that makes you want to be better and smarter about the world. And so he approaches this topic from a humanities lens rather than a science one. He shows the ways in which this disease has been “a failure of our social order, an invasion of injustice.” You see, we have the power to eradicate TB around the world. We just choose not to because the people that TB primarily afflicts are from low income countries.

So John Green set out to put a human face on this global problem. He tells the story of Henry, a boy he meets at a hospital in Sierra Leone that he immediately connects with because he has a son named Henry and he assumes they are the same age due to his “spindly legs and a big, goofy smile.”

As Green tells the story of the societal factors that once made it “fashionable” to have TB, to becoming mostly a disease of poverty, Green always comes back to Henry’s story, to ground his narrative in the present-day.

I encourage everyone who cares about public health to pick up this humanizing narrative. And as you can see here, it is a short read, coming in at only 198 pages. When the Penguin booth at ALA was handing them out I even asked if this was just a sampler because I was so surprised it was so short. But by the time you get to the last page, you’ll wish it was longer, not because the book feels incomplete, but because it’s such an engaging and important read.

And because so many of my friends are teachers and librarians, I absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to middle and high school readers. If they like John Green’s YA novels, they’ll enjoy this book.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️ “Nothing is so privileged as thinking history belongs to the past.” I knew I had to read this because I have always loveddd John Green novels! The way John Green tells a story is so captivating. His writing is just next level, incredible. The breakdown of tuberculosis and the way he talks about this topic is so powerful and profound. It is absolutely terrifying to think about how tuberculosis is so deadly. I don’t normally read nonfiction books, but this was great. The story of Henry was executed so well.

The balance between factual evidence and storytelling was just perfect and made for such an engaging read. A great book for someone looking to get into nonfiction. Honestly, I’d read anything John Green writes.

[Alina ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

☆☆☆☆☆

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green is easily one of the most informative and eye-opening books I’ve read in a long time - and I read a lot. I knew going in that I’d learn something, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much depth and humanity this book would deliver. Green takes a complex, often overlooked topic and makes it not only accessible, but deeply engaging.

The blend of history, science, public health, and personal insight is masterfully done. I came away with a completely new understanding of tuberculosis. Its persistent impact, its global history, and the systemic issues that allow it to continue spreading today.

This book deserves to be widely read: in classrooms, in book clubs, by anyone who thinks they already know enough about infectious disease. Fingers crossed, but I’m almost certain this will end up at least in my top 5 Books of 2025.