Everything is Tuberculosis [A Review]
Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green, is a good book. The book itself details the historical origins, the modern ramifications, and the continued struggle of those infected with tuberculosis. While this book is mundane in the sense that it is neither an exposé nor tries to be flashy, by exhaustively doing the not-so-glamorous work of recording the impact of tuberculosis, EiTB spectacularly chronicles the sorrow and bleakness of disease both from the perspective of those that have tuberculosis and from a more broader historical perspective. In writing about tuberculosis thus, Green captures the essential human condition. Moreover, by writing about tuberculosis, Green reminds us that this so-called historical nuisance is in fact widespread and ravages the lives of many — the "disease of history that killed depressive nineteenth-century poets" is in fact killing "present-day humans" and along the way is destroying lungs and bones and lives and relationships and humans. A central narrative that ripples throughout the book is the human failure that is the continuation of tuberculosis, in light of the fact that tuberculosis is both curable and is actively contained in modern industrialized nations, yet still manages to infect ~10 million and kill ~1 million people (i.e. human beings, with friends, hobbies, ideas, hopes and dreams, etc) every year.
In this way, Everything is Tuberculosis is a good, well-written book. While the book itself neither deals with great topics, nor sets out towards greatness, by so concisely and eloquently capturing the human state with regards to tuberculosis, the book is a testament to both human achievements and human failures. Everything is Tuberculosis is a reminder that we've come a long way yet there's still so much road ahead. 9/10.