«From the quark to the supernova; the wonders do not seize. It is our attentiveness that is in short short supply, our ability and willingness to do the work that awe requires.»

Listening to this was a source of comfort and inspiration during my exam season. John Green explores a wide range of objects and phenomenon from the anthropocene aka. modern world, such as air-conditioning, Super Mario Kart, googling strangers, Kentucky bluegrass and the «Notes» app, and reflects on what these things mean for him personally and what it can express about humans in general.

I resonated with his concept of «reviews as memoirs», or reviewing as a form of reflection, in which you leave a piece of yourself behind in your interpretation of the world. It made me realize that I’ve always loved writing or formulating reviews since I was young, whether it’s been books, movies, school courses/teachers, anime, travel experiences etc. It was obviously fun to come up with star ratings, but it was more about taking the time to wrap my thoughts together to help me better understand my experience of the thing in question. By attempting to pinpoint exactly which aspects I liked or disliked, I got to know myself better, but I was also able to more accurately implement this external thing into my life and my interactions with others. Sorry that this became a full-on self-exploration in a regular review section, but that is exactly what the book inspired me to do:P

I didn’t love every essay in this book just as much, but that’s completely fine with me. This is John Green’s personal attempt at trying to view his own experiences in the context of the world around him, thereby hopefully capturing an essence of his own life within these pages. Although a few of the conclusions being reached could strike me as cliché, naive, or otherwise incongruent with my personal beliefs, I respect his project and his honesty throughout. As always with biographical literature, I’m also glad to have listened to the author-narrated audiobook.