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kris_lovegood's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad

4.5


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jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

This book is an enigmatic ode to life in the form of essays written by famed author John Green. They consider the Anthropocene which is  the current geological age (for example your Anthropocene is whatever you live through). 

These essays are incredibly moving at points, they can make you laugh and cry as well as provide fun snippets of information you never knew. Throughout them all John often references back to his personal experiences with his mental health which is incredibly written and moving to those who can relate.  

As a burns victim myself one which stuck with me was “googling strangers” which circles around his time as a chaplain in a hospital when a young burns victim came in. He lived years not knowing this kids fate but eventually googled him and was relieved to see the child survived and grew up to live a fulfilling life and as a victim of similar injuries it was moving to see someone similar mentioned and written not as inspiration porn but to show progress and growth despite barriers you may face. 

Overall I was suprised how much I loved this book and will definitely return to it in future. 

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danasaur's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

4.5

Particularly excellent as an audiobook!

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iang186's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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youngwessels's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5


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illgiveyouahint's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō  story made me bawl my eyes out. I think I'm gonna have to buy the physical copy so that I can reread it at some point and highlight favourite passages. But also I think it's great to hear an audiobook of a book of essay by the author himself. With fiction it can feel weird since they're narrating their characters but with essays they're narrating their own thoughts which I think is nice. 

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redrosemoth's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

 - Honestly, who gave John Green the right? Who let him make me experience the fullness of the human condition via audiobook?
- So many essays in this book had me thinking, oh this will be silly. Rating the Disney Hall of Presidents? This will be a laugh. Yes, but then he'll take a roundabout through a seemingly unrelated anecdote and suddenly you're crying while commuting to work.
- I do think a lot of the power of this book comes from the fact that Green wrote much of it during the early stages of the pandemic, and he frequently references that in the text. But it also adds more layers to the essays, helping to bring our current moment into the context of the whole of human history (whether or not that makes you feel better about the state of things...I'm not sure).
- I do recommend the audiobook for this, as Green puts so much emotion into his reading. Plus, you must hear the call of the extinct bird included in one of the essays. I hear the print version has additional notes, though, so I'll be checking that out as well. 

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alyssasaurus's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5


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scruffie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I could hear John's voice in my head while reading this book. Simultaneously sad and anxious and hopeful, it felt very comforting to me; exactly what I needed right now. Medium-paced most of the time, but also slow-paced, on occasion.

Probably like others before me, I give the Anthropocene Reviewed five stars.

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