Book: The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
Author: John Green
Genre: Memoir
The Anthropocene Reviewed is a collection of essays on the Anthropocene, the current geological age. In this memoir, John Green reviews everything from Diet Dr Pepper to Super Mario Kart, all the while exploring both what it means to be human and the impact humans have on the world.
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars
Apparently, I’m on a memoir kick, having read three in the last four months. Usually, I don’t read a lot of nonfiction. In fact, the last memoir I read before the last three was three years before, and it was for a class.
Anyway, this memoir was excellent. I love John Green, and I’d been meaning to read this ever since it came out. It was fate when Spotify added fifteen hours of audiobooks per month, and I found this audiobook there.
But we’ll get into my thoughts on the audiobook and everything else as we dive deeper into my review of The Anthropocene Reviewed.
The Anthropocene Reviewed Breakdown
Prose: 5 Stars
Ever since I read An Abundance of Katherines (the first John Green book I read), I have loved his prose. And this memoir is no exception. Green writes beautifully, and his words inspire me to want to do so too.
Audiobook: 5 Stars
I could listen to John Green read a grocery list (so long as he reads it like it’s poetry). When this book came out, I knew I wanted to read it via audiobook, because I knew Green would do an excellent job.
I love it when authors narrate their own books (especially when they can do it well). Authors know when to pause, when to slow down or speed up, what tone to use, etc. You really get their interpretation of the text when you listen to them.
Green narrated this book beautifully, and I could see myself occasionally listening to an essay here and there in the future just because they’re nice to listen to.
Pacing: 4.5 Stars
The Anthropocene Reviewed is a slow book. Compared to the books I usually read, there isn’t that draw to read it or to find out what happens next. But it’s not meant to be like that. It’s meant to be enjoyed over time, which I did. I think I even listened to the audiobook at 1.0 speed (I usually listen at around 1.25).
However, as a side effect of the slower pace, it did take me a while to read, and there were days when I found myself gravitating toward listening to something else instead of this.
Other thoughts:
This book was partially written during 2020, and I kind of wish I had read it closer to when it came out for this reason. It’s as much an exploration of what the world was like at the height of the pandemic as it is an exploration of the world itself.
It was interesting to read it with some distance from the pandemic. You can tell how much uncertainty Green was experiencing at the time, and it took me back to 2020 when we were all experiencing that. It would have been nice to read this closer to that time to be able to relate to those sections of the book more.
Overall, I enjoyed listening to Green’s thoughts on the many things he reviews. I learned a lot about random things like the QWERTY keyboard, Halley’s Comet, and other aspects of the Anthropocene. The book also caused me to reflect on different aspects of my own life, masterfully connecting the broad to the personal.
I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 4.5 stars.
Thanks for reading my review of The Anthropocene Reviewed. You can read more of my reviews here. If you’ve read this memoir, let me know what you think of it in the comments.
