Today's Featured Book:
Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
by John Green
Genre: Nonfiction
Published: March 18, 2025
Page Count: 206 pages
Summary:
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.
When I first visited Lakka Government Hospital a few years back, I did not really want to be there.
THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky.
Even as TB became curable, the cure often did not reach the places that needed it the most.
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John Green has a new book out?
Oh, wow. Wonderful. What's it about?
Tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis? Really? Nah, I’m not interested in reading a book about tuberculosis.
Or so I thought...
Then everyone I knew was reading and ranting about how wonderful Everything is Tuberculosis is.
So I had to read it. Right away. And I’m glad I did. It’s a wonderful book. It is about tuberculosis, but it is also about everything.
What do you know about tuberculosis? Not much? Well, that’s about what I knew before I read this book. I certainly had no idea that 1,300,000 people will die of tuberculosis this year. And, more, I had no idea that if everyone could access good health care, no one would die of tuberculosis.
I urge everyone to read this book. And then tell others about it.
I never expected to love a book about tuberculosis.
A few quotes from the book:
“...tuberculosis is curable, and has been since the mid-1950s. We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world.”
“We are powerful enough to light the world at night, to artificially refrigerate food, to leave Earth’s atmosphere and orbit it from outer space. But we cannot save those we love from suffering. This is the story of human history as I understand it—the story of an organism that can do so much, but cannot do what it most wants.”
“It reminded me that when we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity. We can do and be so much for each other. But only when we see one another in our full humanity. Not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world.”
The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.
December 12th - Do you keep up with the hype surrounding books? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)
Yes and no. I am not interested in books that Get All the Love. In general. Something on the bestseller's list? Probably not for me. But if you are hyping a book because it's good...bring it on.
I have not yet read Everything is Tuberculosis, but will soon - it is an important book in that it shows how so much suffering and death is preventable if only we all put people before profits when it comes to medical care.
ReplyDeleteThat Tuberculosis book sounds interesting. My gran had it when she was a little girl and I believe that my grandma was immune to it or something like that 😂
ReplyDeleteI love to see what everyone is reading, but if I don't like the sound of it I won't personally read it.
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2025/12/12/book-blogger-hop-do-you-keep-up-with-the-hype-surrounding-books/
Happy Friday! I am terrible at keeping up with what is hype for books.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Deb. Who ever thought a book about tuberculosis could be so interesting? It's one of my nonfiction favorites this year!
ReplyDeleteDear Deb, thank you for your wonderful review about this book. ❤️ This is a book that I would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to this was as similar to yours but as I've heard more about it I've become intrigued. Thanks for sharing the teasers! I will have to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteI understand that there has been some movement among drug companies toward not charging so much for the TB drugs which actually work in the countries where it is actually needed since this book was published. Let me see if I can find a link...
ReplyDeleteAccording to A.I. Green's advocacy has been having an impact even before the book was published: Bedaquiline (Drug): Green's advocacy campaign, which included YouTube videos and the online community known as "Nerdfighters" and "TBFighters", put significant public pressure on the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J). This pressure, combined with efforts from non-profits like the Stop TB Partnership and Médecins Sans Frontières, led J&J in mid-2023 to open the door to inexpensive generic versions of its patented TB drug bedaquiline in several low- and middle-income countries. The generic medications could cost as little as $8 per month.
I would be really interested in this one. I'll have to look for that. And didn't you have a red banner this morning?!
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday!
ReplyDeleteI was in NY in March when this book was released and got a signed copy. I still haven't read it but will in '26.
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ReplyDeleteMy post today was about another disease that once destroyed many lives: polio. And we could and have conquered it, and are about to let it rage again.
ReplyDeleteI love your christmas decorations!
ReplyDeleteBjxxx,
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This is a title I plan on reading next year for the nonfiction challenge.
ReplyDeleteIt's high on my list for 2026. Hope my book club wants to read & discuss it!
ReplyDeleteThere's no reason for TB, and pneumonia also kills a million children a year. We have vaccines and medicines. My mind just reels thinking of it all.
ReplyDeleteI've finally added this one to my short list after hearing so many recommendations about it. The title was offputting to me, but John Green is one of my favorites, so I'll give it a go! Thanks for sharing about it, Deb.
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