Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection | 
pickJohn Green has a succinct, conversational way of writing that also somehow manages to be beautiful and heartwrenching. This is not a history of tuberculosis. This is a musing on Green‘s process of learning about TB and how all the big problems human society has—capitalism, racism, class inequities, corrupt governments—cause thousands of deaths every year from this disease, which is 100% curable.
been around this disease when i was younger…knew a family member who had it and witnessed him wasting away…my view of this disease had changed overtime… #knowledgeispower #readinggoal #readinglife #audiophile
Decided I had to commit to a book for August … I‘m going with John Green purely because I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
pickWhat do the cowboy hat, the state of New Mexico, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand have in common? Tuberculosis, of course! TB is one of the oldest diseases in the world. We have the capability to cure it, but it still kills 1,250,000 people every year. A world without TB is possible, but we must be willing to improve the socioeconomic conditions that allow it to thrive. 4.5⭐️
pickSeveral people at work were reading this and telling me about it so I had to hop on the bandwagon. I wasn‘t sure about John Green writing nonfiction, but I loved everything about this. I learned a lot. It wasn‘t too long. Not only does he write well, he researches well. I highly recommend this read!
pickFascinating, heartbreaking, and inspiring, John Green has tackles a complex issue with patience, empathy, and a global view. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. #bookspinbingo for the center square, nearly blacked out my board! @TheAromaofBooks
pickConsumption has always fascinated me. ‘The Poet‘s Disease…The Romantic Disease‘. It is ancient, deadly, and still evolving to outsmart humans and kill them more efficiently. This book is short but packs a punch about the history of TB, discussing famous victims (and survivors), diagnosis, treatment, and all its intersections today (clean water, food, healthcare, housing, living wages…). TB may be millions of years old and evolving, but it⬇️
Before the germ theory of disease, we did not know that around half the cells in my body do not, in fact, belong to my body—they are bacteria and other microscopic organisms colonizing me. And to one degree or another, these microorganisms can also control the body—shaping the body‘s contours by making it gain or lose weight, sickening the body, killing the body. There‘s even emerging evidence that one‘s microbiome may have a relationship ⬇️
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.
What an infernal microbe it is!…How absurd that we who can kill the tiger should be defied by this venomous little atom.
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
pickWell-written and accessible narrative of the history of tuberculosis and the social inequities that make it either treatable or the deadliest disease on earth — depending on where you live.
Completed for #DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub
Prompt: Read a book about the politics of race and health
Finally home from work to relax on the patio, temperature at a perfect 70 degrees with no humidity, a glass of sparkling Töst and and a book about tuberculosis. What could be better than this right now. ?
#DiseaseoftheMonthBookClub
pickMy heart hurts. I enjoy following John Green on his nonfiction journeys. I agree with him as he recommends the Paul Farmer/PIH book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
#Aug2025 Book70
Do we need to crowdfund some freakin‘ antibiotic research?! We have some scientists who need some funding. I am not happy with the latest news out of our fed DoH and the lunatic in charge.
I have to finish this book- Libby expires tomorrow; I fear I won‘t be able to sleep if I cram last 70 pages.
I do NOT need longer eyelashes!!!! (I am actually pleased that there is no eyelash emoji! Or am I too out-of-it to know what word to search? 🥴)
Happy to have pulled two relatively short books for my #bookspin this month, considering that I‘m a few months behind on my previous selections … maybe this will be the month I get caught up! Or at least don‘t fall further behind.
Didn‘t finish many this month but my fave was definitely the tagged book.
pickI learned so much from this little book. John Green does an excellent job of explaining the history of tuberculosis and the medical community's attempts to understand and combat the disease, as well as the socioeconomic realities that have kept the disease from being eradicated. It's a good balance of technical and personal and very readable. This was my July #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks
Started this yesterday. It‘s a good read, just very sad. Green has not minced words about how white supremacy has killed millions upon millions of people just by doing nothing about TB in the so-called global south.
Ignore that blip at the beginning. I can‘t figure out how to get rid of it even though I did change it to a DNF.
#junereading
#storygraph
pickAdmittedly, I thought the title was a metaphor for other items, but was pleasantly surprised to read an entire book about TB- history, culture, treatments, research, patients. It‘s incredible, written by the wonderfully talented John Green. I like him more, and hope this book gives people pause who consider that medical research should be more than solely profit focused.
pickPowerful, expansive, clear, compellingly told, heartbreaking, and yet hopeful, by the end of this short yet transformative read, you‘ll be agreeing with John Green: everything is tuberculosis.
pickI love John Green, especially when I listen to him. I wasn‘t sure if I was that interested in learning about TB, but it‘s John Green, so I decided to. The personal story woven throughout about Henry gives you someone to root for. The history & current lack of availability to treatment makes you mad. Of course, this was written before the US withdrew from WHO & shut down USAID, so I couldn‘t help but think of how many more are dying right now. 👇
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love John Green‘s nonfiction. He brings so much humanity, research, & heart to a topic so fundamentally grounded in racism & inequity.
The author reads the audiobook, and it‘s John Green, so it‘s a great listen.
There was so much new-to-me information in this book, and I‘m glad Sharon McMahon chose it for her book club.
I can‘t wait to meet with Green & hear the discussion.
pick#Read100 #MonthlyNonFiction2025
Finished a few weeks ago. When I was in kindergarten we had to have a TB skin test where we lined up. The nurse(?) administering it told me “to watch the bubble” & I promptly passed out. I woke up on a cot, was forced to drink the carton of warm whole milk that was sitting outside class in a wagon all morning & eat a graham cracker & the entire experience left me with a decades long phobia of needles & seeing ⬇️
“Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the Scottish tinkerer and chemist James Watt began working on a new project.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
A powerful listening experience. It's a sad, horrific, true story of the massive consequences of health inequality, told with humanity and grace. I understand now why this became his cause, and there's hope in the fact that so much has and still can be done to help. (Though as an American, it's hard not to fear we've taken such a wrong turn, we soon won't even be able to help ourselves.)
#RealHistory #HonestHistory #MonthlyNonfiction2025
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.
pickThis was an interesting and heartbreaking work about the history of tuberculosis and how it is treated very differently today depending on what part of the world you live in. It will also be interesting to see if Green researches and writes more nonfiction books like this.
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickJohn Green is a national treasure. His take on how tuberculosis has affected our world and tells about a young individual who is suffering from this disease CURRENTLY to illustrate societal and global health issues, greed, modern medicine, history —and romanization— of the disease (consumption), medical and pharmaceutical industry (corruption), personal stories and so much more (TB gave us Adirondack chairs!). I absolutely loved this!
pickDid I anticipate that in 2025 I would wait weeks for a hold on an audiobook about tuberculosis to come in from the library and, when it finally did, I would be so interested I would listen to it in record time? Not a chance but such is the power of John Green.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An important glimpse into healthcare disparities.
Another episode featuring a chat with the author!
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-podcast-will-kill-you/id1299915173?i=...
pickI've not spent a lot of time thinking about Tuberculosis, beyond having to have TB testing before I could start my roles in Healthcare facilities. It's an interesting history, and deserves more consideration now as it should have been eradicated many years ago, if not for inequities in the global system. This is an interesting read, if you're a little bit interested. #19-2025
Last weeks book chat books… I‘m trying to read more nonfiction books this year - so I was quite pleased to talk about 2 this month. Was super pleased that Everything is Tuberculosis sparked a great conversation with more than one attendee revealing that they had a parent who‘d survived TB… the colleague I‘ve done book chats with for the last year - her contract is finishing - I‘m going to miss her!
pickOoo, really well written. I hope John Green writes more of these types of books!
#OffTheShelf2025
@Librariana
#NonFiction
pickEverything Is Tuberculosis, by John Green (2025)
Premise: A popular-level take on the history, science, and increasingly sociology, of humanity‘s deadliest disease.
Review: The Green brothers just seem like genuinely delightful, whip-smart, gracious, and deeply curious people, and this book hits on all those strengths. Cont.
pickFocusing on Henry, who is fighting TB in Sierra Leone, Green weaves his real experience with the history of tuberculosis & its far-reaching impact. He manages to bring humanity to a topic that could feel sterile in less gifted hands. He explores the stigmatization of the disease, both as an exclusion from society and as a glorified for the artistic. Like all his work, its beauty lies in his understanding of both humanity's flaws and strengths.
A more in depth conversation with the author of the new book ‘Everything Is Tuberculosis‘. I can‘t wait to read it! 🩸💉
Link to listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/99-invisible/id394775318?i=1000695605705
Everyone is talking about this book and I can‘t wait to read it! I‘ve always had a weird fascination with this famous, deadly, and historical disease. *This is one of the many reasons why USAID matters, Musk be damned.
Link for this podcast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nprs-book-of-the-day/id1587369865?i=100070...
pickAt first I wasn‘t sure about this when I picked it up since it‘s YA and I don‘t always gel with it, but I think this being aimed at a YA audience makes the subject much more accessible for those unfamiliar with TB and I found myself enjoying reading it. It made for a fascinating time since in the past I‘ve seen TB discussed from a historical angle and not from the present day like this one where it is still very much a problem in our world ⬇️
The disease was framed, as disease so often has been, as a moral quandary; if you don‘t wear high heels, and you don‘t live unnaturally in the city, and you don‘t drink, and you don‘t cry at night when you‘re 4 years old and miss your mother, then you will survive.
Death is natural. Children dying is natural. None of us actually want to live in a natural world. Treating disease is unnatural….and yet we tell ourselves that some, and only some, lives end naturally, which means acceptably.
pickThis is really very good. Green reads the audiobook, which if you are a fan you will enjoy. I loved the mixture of history, little trivia facts, and heart wrenching personal stories. There is just enough levity here to not have the facts and heart of the book take you down. But the information is here and it is easy to see the urgency and why Green is so obsessed.
4.5/5
pick“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 didn‘t have a book about tuberculosis being my most anticipated read for the year on my bingo card but I‘ve never felt more invested in following John Green down his TB rabbit hole.
I haven‘t verified but from a solid B,4⭐️ to A+,5⭐️ this might be my overall highest rated grid of 2025. The fiction was all so good and the one non-fiction so unexpectedly interesting that I had to tag it.
5* = Loved It, want to shout out loud about this book! I do/will own/keep a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F
