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Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

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Everything Is Tuberculosis

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. 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 and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 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.

©2025 John Green (P)2025 Penguin Audio Contagious Diseases History History & Philosophy Physical Illness & Disease Science Respiratory Disease Thought-Provoking Inspiring

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All stars
Most relevant  
A truly fantastic listen. If you are looking for a book and going "I want to learn something new", this is the book. "Fault in our stars" emotion with "Crash Course" information.

Bringing Light to a Hidden Horror

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This book has really opened my eyes to the impact of TB on the world. I love how John constantly grounds his points in a commentary of broader systematic injustices, colonialism, poverty & the profit maximisation of drug companies. Then shifting to a very individual, personal level, to understand the human impact of these injustices.

Really Eye-opening

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As a TB researcher, I thought I wouldn't learn much from this book but I truly enjoyed it all and learned a lot! Really fantastic.

Great detail and data in compelling stories

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The last few weeks have been difficult for those of us living in Europe. We have seen the present U.S. administration cut funding to aid in practically every developing country in the world that will have an impact on those countries’ ability to fight the “inequitable” (to quote John Green) battle against illnesses that could lead to many deaths and also the strengthening of resistant strains of killer diseases such as Tuberculosis and even Covid hat could spread to the developed world and threaten future mass deaths.
It is so good therefore to read through this excellent book that shows just how Tuberculosis has made such a large impact on human history, how we have fought to overcome it by scientific research and how we have the ability to keep deaths worldwide to a minimum but have chosen not to use the power we have to effect control over the illness by allowing money to dictate our actions.
I loved the way that Green uses the case of Henry a boy from Sierra Leone to show just how horrible this illness can be and you spend the whole book wondering about Henry’s fate. I will not give away what happens to Henry so as not to ruin the enjoyment of the book.
At one stage in the book Green talks about the “virtuous cycles” of events that allows rich countries such as the U.S. to support very poor countries such as Sierra Leone to provide the drugs that can help cure Tuberculosis . Unfortunately we seem to be in an “unvirtuous cycle” at the moment. John Green though is an example of a Virtuous American. He cares about all humanity and reading this book has shown me what America can be as a force for good in the world. Hopefully this will return sometime soon.
Green has a pleasant reading style and this is a thoroughly good listen that I strongly recommend.

The virtuous American

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John Green has yet again made something that connects the individual to the collective humanity in a easily absorbable and relatable way.
He has taken a topic that I had barely thought about and made me deeply care about it - in a way that is easy to listen to and enjoyable even if it brought me to tears while cooking the dinner on a number of occasions.
John Green also narrates well and my only complaint is that the book wasn’t longer.
I will be recommending it to all.
Marco.
Polo.

Essential and beautiful

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I knew that this was an important topic to learn about as I decided to buy this book. I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be an entertaining listen that kept me engaged as I learned. I really hope others give it a listen and are motivated to make positive chances in our world like I am.

An interesting listen about an important topic

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Very well paced and detailed. I learned so much and have a yearning to explore and understand more. Mark of well told and conveyed thoughts.

Fantastic Learning

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John Green knows how to tell a story that is painfully human and beautifully optimistic. I wasn’t expecting to laugh out loud or cry at various points in this book but I did. This is a brilliant, accessible look at the choices humans have made to coexist with a deadly, curable disease. It’s a fantastic call to action, I just wish we lived in a time where it was less timely and less relevant.

Profound, human and inspiring - a classic of John Green writing

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Told with passion and compassion, very insightful yet personal. This book is a great balance of story telling and education.
I'd never really thought much about tuberculosis, it wasn't a disease I was familiar with, but to find out how it's shaped much of our world, and still affects millions today was hugely insightful. I will be keeping an eye out for more books by John Green.
Would highly recommend, and is suitable for anyone from teens upwards.

Well worth a listen!

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Needless death of those mainly in poorer countries as businesses in rich countries profit. A reminder to remember the real people involved.

Needless death

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