I have tried writing about five different intros for this article and all five of them have sucked. I probably could have used them, but I felt as though they didn’t do justice to this book. How do you explain to someone the feeling of awe that washes over you as you start to realize that you’re not alone in this world? The truth is you can’t. The only way for someone to really know how you feel is for them to experience it themselves. And when they do, no words are needed; it’s a mutual understanding.
Every summer of my life I have done the same roadtrip with my family. We drive all day up to the small town of Lewisport, Kentucky to visit my dad’s family. Then after a few days, we drive about three more hours over to Fort Thomas, where we visit my mom’s family. After spending years doing this same trip over and over again, I have visited many gas stations along the route from Fort Worth to Lewisport. This includes, surprisingly, clean restrooms where I feel relatively okay touching the door handle, and definitely not so clean restrooms where I have to use the last bit of toilet paper to open the door because they were out of paper towels.
Years ago, in one of these gas stations (I do not recall if it was a clean one), I was standing next to my dad and I looked down at my feet. I said to him that sometimes I think of all the people that stood in the exact same spot all those times before me. I wondered who they were and what they were doing in this gas station. He then said something along the lines of it’s crazy how little unique experiences there are in this world. I don’t know why, but even as an eleven or twelve-year-old, that always stuck with me. I don’t know if I thought much about it at first, but after having read this book, I 100 percent agree with the statement.
Growing up I always thought that I was too mature for my age. I had thoughts about life that I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to have yet. I was still treated like a child and as though I knew nothing about life. While this is somewhat true, it made me feel like I was experiencing something no one else my age was experiencing. I wanted so badly to be an adult and participate in adult conversations. I felt that I was changing somehow, and I was. The cause: puberty. Now in all seriousness I felt somewhat alone but not necessarily lonely, and also not enough to where I would dwell on it every day; just enough to think about it every now and then.
When I started reading “The Anthropocene Reviewed” by John Green, I was immediately taken back to middle school. The things Green wrote were exactly what I needed to hear. He put into words what I was feeling. It was like reading the writing of both my past, present, and future self. I had never felt so entirely seen before. There were times when I was left purely speechless and where I felt I needed to share what I had just read with every person in sight. I could talk about it for hours only to feel the need to soak in every word, every letter from cover to cover once again.
You’re probably wondering what this book is all about and why it is so important to me. Well, let me start at the beginning. I’m sure you’ve heard the name John Green before. Whether it be from one of his well-known young adult novels including “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Turtles All the Way Down,” or from his Crash Course series where he explains topics in history (thank you, Mr. Hoover). He also has a podcast with his brother Hank Green called “Dear Hank & John.” This podcast was actually where the review of the “Anthropocene” started. In 2017, while on tour for Green’s new book “Turtles All the Way Down,” the brothers started a competition: who could find the most absurd Google review on the places they drove past. This sparked Green’s idea for reviewing anything and everything on a five-star scale. His brother is the one who came up with the name “The Anthropocene Reviewed.”
For those of you who are wondering what the word “Anthropocene” means and haven’t looked it up, I’m disappointed. But to save you time, I will tell you now. The Greek root word “anthrop” means human being or person. The Greek prefix “-cene” means new or recent. If you put those together it quite literally means a “new age of mankind.” The actual Google definition of “anthropocene” is the geological age or period where humans have had a dominant impact on Earth’s environment. Now putting this into context with the title “The Anthropocene Reviewed,” it means the review of the impact that humans have had on this planet.
The actual book is a collection of essays over anything and everything. Green writes reviews on Diet Dr. Pepper, humanity’s temporal range, scratch n’ sniff stickers, sunsets, and many other topics. All of these reviews include some personal story, sometimes history about the topic, and a conclusion that brings everything together. One of the things that makes this book so interesting are the anecdotes he tells. Some of them are very personal, and he tells them in a way that is so captivating you forget what the main topic of the essay is even about. Also, the way he brings everything together in the end so smoothly is quite literally jaw dropping.
The essays have everything from science to air-conditioning to hot dogs. Some of them make you smile, some make you laugh, and some make you want to just sit there and cry because you have felt the exact feeling he’s describing too many times before.
One of my favorite essays is the one called “Humanity’s Temporal Range.” It talks about how, in relation to the Earth’s actual age, humans have only inhabited this planet for a teeny tiny bit of that time. Yet we are still the only species who even knows that we have a temporal range. We have dramatically changed Earth’s environment in more ways than one. We contain so much power yet so little. Green talks about how we have the ability to travel to the moon, but we can’t stop our loved ones from dying.
But, my favorite essay overall was “Sunsets.” The main message was vulnerability. To truly be able to see a sunset for what it is, you must be vulnerable. You have to be okay with just being. Every time I see a sunset, one of the things I struggle with is that the beauty won’t last. That’s why I’m tempted to take a picture. I don’t want to lose the moment I’m in. I want to hold onto the feeling forever.
Sometimes I find science extremely boring, but I can’t help but be fascinated by it. It helps me to stay rooted in what I believe to be the truth. When everything is falling apart within and, seemingly, around me, I can’t help but find comfort in the certainty of science. Sometimes when I feel like I am drowning in my problems, I just remember that there’s a whole world out there. A whole future that won’t wait for me to figure it out. A past that has given life to so many incredible species, including humans. Even though we might be destroying this earth, even though we may be the cause of humanity’s downfall, we are an incredible species. The evolution that has already happened and the evolution that will come is a whole lot bigger than me. And that’s amazing.
While looking at a sunset, Green says, “…I feel my absurd smallness. You’d think that would be sad, but it isn’t. It only makes me grateful.”
I hope to one day make an impact on someone’s life just as much as John Green has made on mine. I hope to live in awe of every sunset I see. I hope to remember to appreciate air-conditioning. I hope to love someone as much as John Green loves the band “The Mountain Goats.”
Maybe this will influence you to read the book, or maybe it won’t. But the point for Green was never to influence readers to read the books, watch the movies, or listen to the music he mentioned; his point was to influence readers to fall in love with life. To give everything they have to life because at the end of the day, the question is not whether you passed the test, nor if you went to that party, nor is it who that guy from high school was dating for one month. The question is, did you live? Did you truly get everything you could out of these sacred sacred years? Did you bring goodness and kindness into the world? Did you love with all your heart for the people who felt as though they had no love to give? To me, that is what’s important.
So, John Green, I loved your book. It did influence me to watch that movie and listen to that song. It also reminded me that the best things in life are right in front of us. We just have to look around once in a while. I give “The Anthropocene Reviewed” by John Green five stars.
