Chris’s Pick
May, 2023
The Anthropocene Reviewed
Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
John Green
Penguin Random House, 2021
A few years ago, Fresh Air’s Terry Gross conducted what would be the last interview with the author Maurice Sendak, in which Sendak said, “I’m finding out as I am aging that I’m in love with the world.” That interview moved me to tears.
John Green, touched by the same interview, writes:
It has taken me all my life up to now to fall in love with the world …. (it) isn’t to ignore or overlook suffering both human and otherwise. …To fall in love with the world is to look up at the night sky and feel your mind swim before the beauty and the distance of the stars… to watch as the sycamore trees leaf out in June. I want to fall in love with the world … to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here.
The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this collection of essays, adapted from his same-named podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet. It is an unironic reflection of humanity: how we grow, build, destroy. Funny, complex, well-researched, rich with detail, the essays display the contradictions of contemporary humanity.
I have my favorites. I loved the stories of “The Lascaux Cave Paintings”, and “Three Farmers On Their Way to a Dance”. I loved “Googling Strangers”, “Auld Lang Syne”, and “Monopoly”. All the essays, though, offer the reader something—a reminiscence, a smile, a puzzlement, an understanding. Each end with a star rating between one and five, which is amusing–the conceit of the book is that these days we consumers are asked to review everything we buy, touch, or experience, often within a five-star scale. So, Green has chosen to review the Anthropocene.
Here is a confession: I first discovered this book as an audiobook, a great way to keep me company during my daily walk. And the special thrill of this one is that John Green narrates his own work. His voice is often tender and emotional, so it is clear how and why he responds to a particular subject. (This is an author that is generally considered a YA (Young Adult) author. Luckily, I didn’t know that when I picked up his Turtles All the Way Down some years ago and fell in love with it.) When the audiobook concluded, I returned it to the Libby App and promptly bought the signed-by-the-author print book from Amazon.
A last thought: A mentor of Green’s once told him “For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life: pay attention to what you pay attention to. That’s pretty much all the information you need.”
This book is John Green’s paying attention. It may be that I would not necessarily pay attention to the same things, like Kentucky bluegrass, or Diet Dr Pepper, or the Indianapolis 500. But his storytelling is compelling, and so delightful it is easy to settle into his world for a while.
And it has alerted me to pay attention to what I pay attention to as well. Good book.