Books & Audiobooks
John Green is a best selling author of such popular books as The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska and Turtles All The Way Down. In Everything is Tuberculosis, he has turned his focus to a subject which I expect most North Americans rarely think about: Tuberculosis. If you had asked me before I read this book what the status of TB is, I would have said that it isn’t a thing anymore. And how wrong I would have been. In just 198 pages, Green takes us through the history of the disease, not only from a medical perspective but also from a socio-political viewpoint. You will be amazed at the number of famous people through the years who have succumbed to the disease, and almost more importantly, the social acceptance and curiosity about the afflicted.
The book came to life because of Green’s encounter with Henry, a young boy he met at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone where John and his wife were doing a tour of the neonatal facilities. At first, Green thought that Henry was an enthusiastic tour guide, but he was soon to discover that this boy was actually a teenaged tuberculosis patient. Henry and John became fast friends and this book pays homage to Henry and all of those who work tirelessly in often dire circumstances to help patients afflicted with TB.
The very heart of this book is a reflection and social commentary highlighting the great divide between the haves and have nots, the suffering and the greedy. It seems that those who don’t need the resources have an abundance and those who are desperate are out of luck. In spite of all of the progress we have made over the last few centuries on this planet, some of the most basic aspects of human nature never change.