Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
4.5 | 6,330 ratings
Price: 14.99
Last update: 01-09-2026
Product details
- ASIN : B0DJX3VP68
- Publisher : Crash Course Books
- Accessibility :
- Publication date : March 18, 2025
- Language : English
- File size : 5.6 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 206 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1101592410
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank:#40 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Communicable Diseases (Kindle Store)
- Sociological Study of Medicine
- Science & Math (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:4.54.5 out of 5 stars(6,229)
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest InfectionTop reviews from the United States
- Amazon CustomerExcellent - will appeal to everyone!This is a book that, regardless of your views, gently asks you to put aside your precious opinions and focus on the powerful combination of fact and human experience. It is a wonderful, informative, engaging read that politely ushers readers into a world of new understanding - in a very easy to digest package. THIS is a great book. It will delight lovers of epidemiology, history, and insufferable know-it-alls (like myself)! This was a joy to read and I learned something on every page!
- MeridianInteresting and informativeAn interesting look into the history of tuberculosis, exploring the medical, social, and financial causes behind the rise and decline of the most deadly disease in history.
As an avid reader, I understood consumption and its impacts on art and literature throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As a college student I worked in a hospital and witnessed the contamination protocols for a patient with TB, so I understood the basics behind the spread and the treatment of the disease itself.
This book bridged the gaps between the different understandings and ideas of TB throughout history. I really have a deeper understanding of the spread, treatment, and socioeconomic factors that are responsible for the world wide prevalence of tuberculosis to this day.
I also loved learning about Henry - his life, his family, his passions, and his battle with TB in Sierra Leone. Here’s to hoping that the popularity of this book and of Henry’s story will help to further the world wide fight to eradicate tuberculosis deaths. - Richard P.Another Great Book From John GreenIn the kind of weird coincidence that would seemingly come out of film adapted from a John Green story, on the very day I was winding down my time with Green's "Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection," I received word that a longtime friend of mine had, in fact, been diagnosed with TB.
The good news for this friend, I suppose, is that she lives in the United States where both prevention and treatment for TB are both readily available. In all likelihood, she will easily survive this disease.
As is stated over and over again throughout "Everything Is Tuberculosis," many others will not survive the disease despite the fact that testing and treatment have been available since the 1950s and increasingly common and effective.
In Green's simplest terms, we have the ability to cure TB. We don't have the political will to do so.
For an author long recognized as one of the most popular YA novelists, it may seem surprising that Green would tackle a book on tuberculosis. I can't help but think those surprised have never really immersed themselves in Green's world, both literature and social media, as Green has long immersed himself in the ways that we're interconnected and the power that we have to change lives.
It's a theme that is common throughout "Everything Is Tuberculosis," a book that finds its heart-and-soul in the story of young Henry Reider, whom Green met at Sierra Leone's Lakka Government Hospital. Green avoids the saccharine romanticizing of Henry's story, instead constantly maintaining Henry's humanity as he fights to survive TB in a nation with only the barest minimum of treatments. In similar books, the author would dare to draw a connection between themselves and the character's outcome - Green is far too wise and has far too much integrity to do so. Instead, Green paints a vivid portrait of the struggle and the doctors working to do something about it against seemingly insurmountable odds.
We get to know Henry and we come to admire his fiercely loyal mother Isatu, a woman who works hours upon hours upon hours to raise funds for Henry's care. It's their story that serves as the emotional foundation for "Everything Is Tuberculosis," however, it's Green who tells the story with insight, intelligence, and compassion.
Green's approach to this story is surprisingly simple. Green focuses his storytelling lens on Henry and the various people he encounters, both other patients and medical professionals, along the way. However, Green also paints an engaging and convicting portrait of how TB became a disease associated with those who are economically poor and why no one is now doing anything about it despite the ability to do so.
"Everything Is Tuberculosis" is a weaving together of deep compassion, historical analysis, and rich yet accessible scientific analysis. Green's "Everything Is Tuberculosis" leans not just into the way things are but how they could be using the STP (Search, Treat, Prevent) framework. As a writer who's long used his social media presence for good (as a footless guy, I sure wish I needed socks), Green creates a framework for change and then gives us accounts of those who are slowly and frustratingly but most definitely creating that change.
As a creative and an activist who lives in Green's adopted hometown of Indianapolis, I think perhaps no statement in "Everything Is Tuberculosis" sums up Green as both writer and human being than a statement he makes in the book - "How can I accept a world where over a million people will die this year for want of a cure that has existed for nearly a century?"
Indeed, "Everything Is Tuberculosis" is a book about tuberculosis. It's also more. It's about who we are as human beings. It's about how we're connected and how we choose to disconnect. It's about the simple wonder of being human and the big and small ways we can make the world a better place if and when we choose to do so.
To his credit, though Green would likely be hesitant to take such credit, "Everything Is Tuberculosis" ultimately makes us want to do so. - ShawnaGreat easy read, with short stories.I've been a fan of John Green forever, and have read all of his books. The way he writes really is insightful but not over done. His way of story telling whether it be a YA novel, Fiction or Non-Fiction, he writes "user friendly". So very well written for literature lovers and a great storyteller all in all. This book explores stories of not just the past but also current issues with the disease and the medical system as a whole. It's really interesting insight to read about how this illness shaped healthcare facilities and it's link to so many people and things in our history. How it's so different between care in different parts of the world. I really enjoyed this book and recommend John Green to anyone who loves stories.
- kirabugNot a textbook, a connection.An excellent primer on all things tuberculosis, written for those of us who aren’t in medicine. Approachable. Caring. You’ll meet patients and hear stories both from John’s life and from history. You’ll understand what tuberculosis does to the body, how, and why that should be treated like a global emergency.
It’s an easier read than, say, Epidemics and Society, because it’s not a textbook, but it does give up some of the depth that a textbook-level publication will drag you into. The perfect tone for its goal: to get us to care at least a little bit about solving the problem of tuberculosis. - Steve RagleQuick and interesting read.I'm going to review this in two sections - the book as a physical artifact, and the content.
First, the content - it is written in a breezy 'blogger' style, with some humor, and you can feel the author's passion for the subject matter come through. I'm learning things on every page, and although some of the information is deeply disturbing, I find all of it interesting, especially the science and technical aspects. Some of the 'political' commentary seems a bit out of place and overblown.
Next, the book itself, the physical artifact - it is probably the worst book I've held in my hands in years. The page are a flimsy newsprint, and the printing is highly uneven. Some pages are so lightly printed as to be nearly unreadable. Some pages contain many weird artifacts and glitches like overprinted words, blobs, incomplete coverage like missing ink in the letters, etc. It is extremely distracting and unpleasant to read because of these issues.