Published in 2025 by Listening Library.
Read by the author, John Green.
Duration: 5 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged.
Normally, John Green writes YA fiction, but this is his second non-fiction book in the last five years. His first non-fiction book was an excellent series of essays called Anthropocene Reviewed. His second non-fiction book is an in-depth (but still, fairly short) look at the deadliest disease of human history - tuberculosis.
In Everything Is Tuberculosis, Green gives a quick history of the disease that has killed 1 out of every 7 humans that has ever lived (yes, that is truly an amazing statistic) and even in the modern world, tuberculosis kills millions every year.
Over the years, tuberculosis has a lot of names and suspected causes. Before it got its current name, the most common name for tuberculosis in English was "consumption." No one really knew where it came from and they were equally ignorant of how to cure the disease. Oddly enough, most people (90%) who are infected with tuberculosis (TB) never develop any symptoms and are not able to spread the disease.
Doctors describe TB as an infection that takes advantage of its host's weakened immune system to spread. Immunosuppresent drugs would do this, but more mundane things like famine, poor diet, an HIV infection, diabetes, cancer, or being an elderly person make an infection move from being latent to active.
Green makes the story personal by describing the treatment of a young man he met in Sierra Leone named Henry. Green deftly goes back and forth between the big picture discussion of treatments, the countless challenges of treating TB cases in high poverty countries like Sierra Leone, and Henry's specific case.
This is not a happy book in any way. But, it is important and it is very well told.
I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS: THE HISTORY and PERSISTANCE of OUR DEADLIEST INFECTION (audiobook) by John Green.
Read by the author, John Green.
Duration: 5 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged.
Normally, John Green writes YA fiction, but this is his second non-fiction book in the last five years. His first non-fiction book was an excellent series of essays called Anthropocene Reviewed. His second non-fiction book is an in-depth (but still, fairly short) look at the deadliest disease of human history - tuberculosis.
In Everything Is Tuberculosis, Green gives a quick history of the disease that has killed 1 out of every 7 humans that has ever lived (yes, that is truly an amazing statistic) and even in the modern world, tuberculosis kills millions every year.
Over the years, tuberculosis has a lot of names and suspected causes. Before it got its current name, the most common name for tuberculosis in English was "consumption." No one really knew where it came from and they were equally ignorant of how to cure the disease. Oddly enough, most people (90%) who are infected with tuberculosis (TB) never develop any symptoms and are not able to spread the disease.
Doctors describe TB as an infection that takes advantage of its host's weakened immune system to spread. Immunosuppresent drugs would do this, but more mundane things like famine, poor diet, an HIV infection, diabetes, cancer, or being an elderly person make an infection move from being latent to active.
Green makes the story personal by describing the treatment of a young man he met in Sierra Leone named Henry. Green deftly goes back and forth between the big picture discussion of treatments, the countless challenges of treating TB cases in high poverty countries like Sierra Leone, and Henry's specific case.
This is not a happy book in any way. But, it is important and it is very well told.
I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS: THE HISTORY and PERSISTANCE of OUR DEADLIEST INFECTION (audiobook) by John Green.
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