A collection of personal essays reviewing facets of the human-centered planet — from Diet Dr Pepper and sunsets to the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet — each rated on a five-star scale, adapted from Green's podcast of the same name.
Books mentioned in The Anthropocene Reviewed (45)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: “Armed Services Editions were paperback books that fit into a soldier's pocket; they popularized several books now considered classics, including Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”
The Human Stain by Philip Roth: “Sarah chose The Human Stain by Philip Roth as our first book.”
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton: “Until 1990, when Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park was published, velociraptors were not particularly well-known dinosaurs.”
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: “A scene in the movie adaptation of my book The Fault in Our Stars was filmed on a bench in Amsterdam; that bench now has hundreds of Google reviews.”
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: “On page 84 of my copy of Jane Eyre, why did I write, "You have never been so lonely"?”
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “An entire essay reviews the novel's history and revival via the Armed Services Edition, e.g. "Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the narrator is sprawled out on a beach at night..."”
Looking for Alaska by John Green: “Her Encyclopedia came out just a few months before my first novel, Looking for Alaska.”
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green: “FERAL HOG HUNT, scrawled in the margins of Our Southern Highlanders, became part of the climactic scene in my book An Abundance of Katherines.”
On the Road by Jack Kerouac: “As Kerouac does in On the Road when he writes, "Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields."”
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: “Vonnegut's greatest novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, is about a man who becomes unstuck in time, and how time conspires with consciousness.”
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: “There is a grocery list in my copy of Song of Solomon, and directions to my great-aunt's house in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: “When discussing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school, one of my teachers pointed out that in order for Mark Twain to become Mark Twain, he had to grow up along the river...”
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The initial reviews weren't great, and the book was widely considered to be inferior to Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise.”
Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart: “FERAL HOG HUNT, scrawled in the margins of Our Southern Highlanders, became part of the climactic scene in my book An Abundance of Katherines.”
Ode on Melancholy by John Keats: “As when Keats in "Ode on Melancholy" writes of a "weeping cloud."”
Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns: “We owe the current song to the great Scottish poet Robert Burns... On the back of the letter, Burns wrote a draft of the poem. (An entire essay covers the poem's history and text.)”
On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf: “Virginia Woolf wrote in "On Being Ill" that it is "strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love, battle, and jealousy among the prime themes of literature."”
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror by John Ashbery: “In "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," John Ashbery writes: The secret is too plain.”
The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “That year, he published "The Crack-Up," a series of essays about his own physical and psychological collapse.”
The Palace by Kaveh Akbar: “In "The Palace," Kaveh Akbar writes that "Art is where what we survive survives."”
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard: “In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard writes, "We have really only that one light, one source for all power, and yet we must turn away from it by universal decree."”
Darkness Visible by William Styron: “In Darkness Visible, William Styron's wrenching memoir of depression, he wrote, "What makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come."”
The Cholera Years by Charles Rosenberg: “According to Charles Rosenberg's The Cholera Years, in 1832, "at New York's Greenwich Hospital, fourteen of sixteen nurses died of cholera contracted while caring for patients."”
A Big Pole in Our Goal by Jerzy Dudek: “The save is so good that an entire chapter of A Big Pole in Our Goal is devoted to it.”
Harvey by Mary Chase: “The film, based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize–winning play of the same name, was an immediate critical and commercial success when it was released in 1950.”
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: “In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch defines courage by saying, "It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway."”
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren: “On page 241 of All the King's Men, I wrote at the bottom of the page, "It rains for two days straight."”
The Bad Food Bible by Aaron Carroll: “As Dr. Aaron Carroll puts it in his book The Bad Food Bible, "There's a potential—and, likely, very real—harm from consuming added sugar."”
Immune by Philipp Dettmer: “According to Philipp Dettmer's book Immune, there are so many viruses on Earth that "if they were laid end to end, they would stretch for 100 million light years."”
The Body in Pain by Elaine Scarry: “As Elaine Scarry argues in her book The Body in Pain, physical pain doesn't just evade language. It destroys language.”
Out of the Shadow of a Giant by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin: “As discussed in John and Mary Gribbin's book Out of the Shadow of a Giant: When asked to work out the acreage of land in every English county, Halley "took a large map of England..."”
Apology of Socrates by Plato: “"Or," he would say excitedly, "you can download the entire Apology of Socrates. For free! And read it right here, in the house."”
Liliom by Ferenc Molnár: “In 1909, the Hungarian writer Ferenc Molnár debuted his new play, Liliom, in Budapest.”
Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein: “Molnár sold the rights to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein... Liliom would be remembered almost entirely as a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, retitled Carousel, which premiered in 1945.”
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare: “Shakespeare in Julius Caesar refers to "threatening clouds."”
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson: “There's a character in Jacqueline Woodson's novel If You Come Softly who says that he looks into the future and sees only "this big blank space where I should be."”
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers: “I first learned about it from Richard Powers's novel Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, which I read in college.”
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green: “One famous interviewer asked me if I also, like the narrator of Turtles All the Way Down, experience panic attacks while kissing.”
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: “In 2005, Amy published a memoir in the form of an encyclopedia called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. That book ends, "I was here, you see. I was."”
Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: “In her strange and beautiful interactive memoir Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, published in 2016, she wrote, "If one is generously contracted 80 years..."”
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson: “There's an Emily Dickinson poem that begins, "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain." It's one of the only poems I've managed to commit to memory.”
First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay: “Someone read Edna St. Vincent Millay: My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!”
When people say, "we have made it through worse before" by Clint Smith: “I think about a wonderful poem by Clint Smith called "When people say, 'we have made it through worse before.'" The poem begins, "all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones..."”