So hi. My name is Sarah and I DO NOT cry while reading. In all the 239 books on my Goodreads shelf, I have cried while reading exactly four of them. But DAMNIT if John Green didn't make my cry this week. For those of you wanting specifics, I cried during the Auld Lang Syne essay, on the audiobook version where John asks you to sing a version of the song with him. I went to Barnes & Noble to compare versions, and no, the print copy doesn't have this part, so if you choose to read that, maybe you'll be safe.

This is such an intimate look at the mind of a person with anxiety during the early months of the COVID pandemic. It is raw and honest and the prose is beautiful; it is definitely my favorite work by John Green. I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook, as Green narrates it himself. 

Each essay centers on a different topic that Green explores the history of and then ties into some aspect of the human experience. Some are better than others, but I did enjoy the majority of them. Sometimes I felt a little emotional whiplash going from a lighthearted and interesting essay to one so deep, existential, and anxiety-filled. I think some people might feel like it might be too soon for them to read this, and I fully understand. Overall, I think this was a well-written and mindful look at different elements of history and humanity and I look forward to reading more work by Green if he continues to publish in the adult space. 

A beautiful series of essays inspired by the good and the bad of life and humanity. I listened to the audio book which was read by the author. It was quite a good listened and each essay is interesting.

What an absolute fun and enjoyable read.

A selection of the things that I learned while reading this book:
- you should never predict the end of the world, you will almost certainly be wrong
- the tail of Halley's comet extends more than sixty million miles through space
 - are conditioning systems in many buildings are biased to cater to men's temperature preferences
- basically all penicillin in the world descends from a mold found on a cantaloupe (and the scientists ate it after scraping off the mold)
- lawn maintenance creates more carbon dioxide than the lawns can capture
- Monopoly was actually invented by a woman

Before starting this book officially I had already read a single chapter of it about a year ago, the one titled "Auld Lang Syne." I had actually never actively heard of the song (though I am sure I had heard it before passively in a movie or something similar) and I found it so beautiful that I listened to it on repeat and then did a university assignment on it. I too would like to give Auld Lang Syne five stars.

Each first edition book of this title was signed by John Green. He made a video about this on the Youtube channel he shares with his brother Hank, explaining that his signature didn't make books worth more because by now, he has signed so many of them. However, I would like to claim an exception to this in this very instance. While every single book of this first edition was supposed to have a signature, mine has not. Thus, by NOT having a signature I would actually argue that my first edition of this book is worth more than the other ones. Oh how the tables have tabled. I give this book five stars.

this one is definitely going to be in my top 5 books this year for sure.

there’s just something about talking about things so mundane but have had such a profound impact on your life that really unsettles you, just for a moment. part of it being mundane usually means its insignificant enough to not warrant much attention, but then there are moment where they mark so MANY points in our lives. from teddy bears to sunsets to a hot dog eating contest, green’s life has been touched by so much and he still has so many more experiences to make.

i’m not generally a fan of his other stuff because of the way mass consumption turned his works into romanticism of various mental illnesses and yet this was raw. he held nothing back. he opened himself up and discussed how these little things really affected him during the lowest and highest points of his life. that’s exceedingly brave. and he absolutely should get his flowers for this book.

this felt like a diary and a hug wrapped into one. i loved it.

5 stars! (: