Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

De: John Green

Narrado por: John Green

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 infectious disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. 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 advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a 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.

©2025 John Green (P)2025 Listening Library

Nonfiction Literature

I initially bought this book because I was a fan of John Green and watched his YouTube channel sometimes. I now feel as though I have woken up and become a person in the world for the first time through the story of Henry and his struggle for treatment. The past becomes present, and I have come to realize that, as Green puts it, “Nothing is so privileged as to believe that history is in the past.”

TB: The past? More like the present.

“Nothing is so privileged as to think history is in the past.”

I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about TB. John Green isn’t kidding when he says “Everything is Tuberculosis.” Highly recommend picking this up. Also I can’t recommend the audiobook enough!!

Butterflies

Following the thread of cause and effect from a disease to major historical points and even our group psychology is fascinating.

Informative and Entertaining

If you like reading interesting non fiction then this is the book for you. Interspersed with interesting history facts of tuberculosis with the author’s own personal anecdotes. This is a short read that could act as a jumping off point for further research and readings.

Now more than ever

This book is a need to read. If you are living in a world where you get to choose to take medicine or to get a vaccine you must read this book and think more about the privilege you have in making that choice. Tuberculosis is a choice we continue to make and this history recounted in a way only John Green can is needed now more than ever so that we may choose to be and do better.

Amazing and sooooo well written

This is a fascinating account with science and heart. I loved it. I see the world a little differently now. Cowboy hats, classic literature and Adirondack chairs are different now. Highly recommend this book.

John Green Does It Again

John Green managed to increase both my knowledge and capacity for empathy yet again with this work. I enjoy his works of fiction, but The Anthropocene Reviewed is my favorite. This book is a very close second. I think it should be required reading for all.

Digestible, Educational, and Needed

The only person that could help me better understand the disease that is Tuberculosis, other than my good friend Josiah, is the wonderful storyteller that is John Green. I force myself to read nonfiction and biographies every year, but they rarely come this easily. John makes this topic, that I would otherwise struggle to read off page, easily digestible.

John will hold your hand and tell you the horrors, while also handing you a cup of metaphorical warm tea and tell you there is hope if humans work together.

I deeply valued the stories, told in only a way that John Green could relay.

It is hard.
It is sad.
It is devastating and maddening.

But all in all, I feel more educated for it.

<3 I have always said if there was one person in the world I could get coffee with, I would want it to be John, bc ...I truly believe in his heart for people and his actions that continually support his words.

Interesting, informative, and heartfelt

This is non-fiction the way I like it. Super informative, in a narrative style. The history of this disease is fascinating and learning about its present impact in parts of the world is eye-opening. This information makes the devastation of the USAID cuts from the current administration all the more clear. Thank you John Green, for shining a light on this issue and using your megaphone so well.

John Green is a great storyteller!

John Green is a great storyteller! He has been writing young adult novels for most of his career and now he has turned his attention to tuberculosis. He has masterfully told the story of tuberculosis and helps us understand the human and social aspects of disease. His moral compass is always working, guiding the readers to a deeper understanding of their role in the eradication of preventable diseases. The book is both personal and global at the same time. And I must mention that he and his brother Hank have also set the standard for meaningful online content and teaching the people in their fandom how to turn ideas into reality. Nerdfighteria forever!