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Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection | John Green
20 posts | 9 read | 1 reading | 24 to read
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.
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JenniferEgnor
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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...

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RainyDayReading
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Pickpick

At 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 ⬇️

RainyDayReading Overall I think John Green did a really good job with this and provided me with so much new information I wasn‘t aware of with regards to TB. Highly recommend giving this book a chance regardless of whether you read YA, adult, fiction or nonfiction. 1d
melissajayne Is it the same author as Paper Towns, Turtles All the way Down? 1d
marleed Reading it and even knowing he writes YA fiction, I never even thought to consider this YA which likely speaks to my profound lack of knowledge on the subject going in🤣 20h
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RainyDayReading @marleed I‘m hesitant with YA nonfiction sometimes because in the past I‘ve tried a few where the author/tone came across as talking down to the reader/teen which didn‘t sit all that well with me. But thankfully Green didn‘t do that! It was such a relief. I didn‘t realize it was YA till it came in from the library with the YA sticker on it 🤣 So without that I‘m not sure I would‘ve known and just assumed this was another adult nonfiction of his. 18h
melissajayne @RainyDayReading thanks; I wasn‘t sure 17h
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NotCool

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.

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NotCool
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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.

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ChaoticMissAdventures
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Pickpick

This 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

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thegirlwiththelibrarybag
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Pickpick

“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.

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marleed
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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

GinaKButler That sounds like some great reading! ❤️ 2w
marleed @GinaKButler I feel so lucky when I thoroughly enjoy every book in a grid! 2w
68 likes2 comments
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marleed
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Pickpick

I am essentially a medical illiterate and my understanding of tuberculosis began and ended with knowing the abbreviation is TB. I couldn‘t resist being enlightened on this topic by John Green. I was hooked the whole way through and humbled by my ignorance on this topic. I now really want to visit the YouTube channel of Henry Reider.

ChaoticMissAdventures I love how truly obsessed he is with the topic. In high school I worked at a hospital and once a year we had to be tested for it so it has always been in the back of my mind but I am excited to read JG's take on how it connects to pretty much everything. 2w
TEArificbooks When I was a teacher we had to be tested for it every year and my hubby that works in a hospital also has to be tested every year. I was thinking of getting this book since there is an outbreak in the states and two people died despite modern medicine 2w
marleed @ChaoticMissAdventures @TEArificbooks Ha - I wish I knew what you know. This Jan I couldn‘t kick a lingering cough. Then in Feb I fell ill and for the 1st time ever tested positive for the flu. On a family FaceTime the night prior to the +test, I apologized for coughing and hoped I didn‘t have TB since the county adjacent had the highest new cases in the country. A nephew laughed and assured me I didn‘t have TB. So this book‘s timing! 2w
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ChaoticMissAdventures @marleed oh my goodness! It is scary how these diseases many of us have never thought about are making such strong comebacks. I know the military still gives smallpox shots and I kind of want one now.... 2w
marleed @ChaoticMissAdventures I just had the measles vaccine re-administered because I was born inside the 9 years where the vaccine might not have a lifelong effect. I guess a blood test could show my immunities but both doctor and pharmacist advised to simply get the vaccine. I just didn‘t want to be responsible for continuing the spread as it climbs further up I35. 2w
ChaoticMissAdventures @marleed I had my blood drawn during the last trump time because I wanted to be sure I had everything. I had asked my doctor to just give me everything again ... they said no ha! But another dose doesn't hurt you so I think everyone who is in that 9 years should get another. I am not yet 50 and I have been fighting with my doctor for the last 6 months to get the shingles vaccine early. I don't want it and don't want to spread it if I do get it! 2w
marleed @ChaoticMissAdventures oh my gosh, I was in the same situation with the shingles vaccine. I watched my tough as nails dad, ignore he was ever ill, go down with shingles. Some of the nerve damage never went away. I was so glad when I finally qualified for that shot! (edited) 2w
BethM This is so intriguing to me bc my sister actually got TB in high school. @ChaoticMissAdventures I had my records checked then too. I am not fully vaccinated for polio but they don‘t know why to do about it bc adults don‘t get the vaccine 😂 1d
marleed @BethM I would be so scared to be diagnosed with TB but at least I now know that when discovered early it can be fully treated. (Well, unless RFK jr actions pull back TB research and medications). Were you required to take medications when your sister had TB? 19h
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Rachel.Rencher
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The conversation with John Green and Kaveh Akbar last night was wonderful. I especially appreciated the times when they discussed current events and their impact on John's research. He described medical research like a staircase. We just fell down the stairs in terms of progress on eradicating Tuberculosis, but we pick ourselves up and climb again. We're not at the end of history despite how it may feel. We're in the middle.

ChaoticMissAdventures Oh I am jealous, two amazing guys, what a delightful time! 2w
61 likes1 comment
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shanaqui
Pickpick

There! That was fun. Definitely one I'll recommend in future. I think at times it did focus on an individual TB patient to an extent that some might find bothersome (and verging into inspiration porn, right after discussing how that was a weird cultural thing that wasn't great), but I think it does also serve as a good illustration of some of Green's points. The science was accurate.

Loved that, like me, Green is fascinated by TB, and has OCD.

shanaqui I don't think Green has quite the same quality of fascination with tuberculosis; I think his fascination is more tinged by horror, while I'm fascinated with it as an organism and take a certain joy in understanding how it works and learning more about how it works.

But he's still pretty fascinated, and that was fun to spend time with.

2/3
3w
shanaqui NB: For those reading this without context, I'm an MSc infectious diseases student at LSHTM. I wrote my BSc dissertation on drug-resistant TB, and the tuberculosis module is one of my electives. I'm not being a ghoul or something, just a biologist who has turned intense anxiety about diseases into utter fascination. TB is terrible when it harms someone, no question.

3/3
3w
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shanaqui

“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.“

☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

lil1inblue 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 3w
12 likes1 comment
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shanaqui

I'm with Green on a lot of this; he's clearly done his research. Currently up to his chapter criticising DOTS (directly observed therapy short-course) and YES, though I think he's conflating DOTS and DOT wrongly (DOTS was a global strategy to use directly observed therapy, which has long been superseded; DOT is still used as part of wider efforts). Don't agree with him that streptomycin caused the decline in TB infections/mortality though.

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shanaqui

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

Yep. Entirely true. We could drastically reduce the burden of tuberculosis in much less than a decade, if we were willing (even I can tell you how, and I'm just an MSc student who has specialised mildly into TB). We won't do it. That's a choice we've made. A choice we keep making. We're all culpable for this deliberate murder.

Clare-Dragonfly Well, that‘s distressing. 😟 3w
shanaqui @Clare-Dragonfly Not an easy thing to sit with, for sure. Especially given the UK just cut foreign aid following the lead of the US. 3w
lil1inblue I feel like this is true with several diseases. 😓 3w
shanaqui @lil1inblue Sadly, yes. E.g. it's pretty true about AIDs at this point. 3w
12 likes4 comments
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shanaqui
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I genuinely got too excited thinking about this last night and couldn't fall asleep, so that is why, Your Honour, I did not get the seven+ hours of sleep my doctor has very firmly told me I should get...

And now it has arrived and I'm off work and can start reading it (and potentially arguing with it). Can you tell I have a Special Interest (TM)?

(I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on drug resistant TB and am now studying it during my MSc.)

marleed Oh I can‘t wait to read what you have to say. I just started this but I am medical knowledge challenged and know nothing of TB - except it‘s acronym 🤣 3w
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nitalibrarian
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My copy of Everything is Tuberculosis is here! I ordered the signed edition.

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Rachel.Rencher
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Book n' breakfast in bed: snow day edition ❄️ Who knew reading about disease could be so interesting? I found myself saying to Lucas over and over, "Did you know Tuberculosis..."

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Rachel.Rencher
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I have a snow day tomorrow! It's sunny and 75, but something called a bomb cyclone (??) is moving in tomorrow and we could get up to 10 inches of snow. Wild. But, that means I get to read John Green's new book before I see him this weekend!!

TheBookHippie Enjoy!!!! We get those here it‘s wild!!! 3w
kspenmoll So happy you can have a day to read- let us know what you think@of his book! 3w
thegirlwiththelibrarybag Ahh! I‘m so excited for you! Have the best time seeing John Green! 3w
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MaggieCarr
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Pickpick

A perfect narrative history and resource for a then and now world from an author who lives and breathes all he has learned about Tuberculosis and is doing something about it! Well done and worth the read!

Expected publication March 18, 2025

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review
Zbayardo
Pickpick

I love John Green's Non-Fiction more than his Fiction. I learn so much while being thoroughly entertained!

Green, a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, shares the poignant story of his friendship with Henry, a young tuberculosis patient from Sierra Leone. The book blends personal anecdotes with a powerful history of tuberculosis, revealing how social and healthcare inequities contribute to its devastating global impact.

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thegirlwiththelibrarybag
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I‘ve never been this excited to read a work of NF before! But I really enjoyed the Anthropocene Reviewed and I still watch the occasional Vlog Brothers video - so I‘m acquainted with John‘s musings on all things TB. It‘s unreasonable to wish for an international book tour… and yet I saw this on IG and felt a bit envious!

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