Yes, this is the same John Green who wrote The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. It’s a non-fiction book about a dreadful, very old disease which belongs in the past: tuberculosis (TB), previously known as pthsisis or consumption. On a visit to Sierra Leone, John met a young man, Henry, who had suffered from TB for years without access to modern treatment, and whose positivity and creativity won over everybody who met him. This changed John’s life and he became an advocate for TB awareness and for breaking down the barriers to equal treatment.

If you’re from a wealthy country with a good healthcare system, you might assume that TB isn’t a problem any more. Tragically this is not the case. In 2024, as explained in this WHO factsheet, 1.23 million people died of TB , it was the leading cause of death for people with HIV, and that about 2 in 5 people with multi-drug resistant TB accessed treatment. [Factsheet dated 13th November].

In this book, John Green describes the history, causes, symptoms and diagnosis of TB, the development of treatment, plus social attitudes towards sufferers and how the legacies of racism and colonialism allow this deadly – but curable – disease to thrive. When you consider these topics, TB really is everything, as the title suggests. It has shaped our history in a major way. In between these chapters, we follow the story of Henry as he becomes sicker and faces further barriers to his recovery. I couldn’t wait to get to these sections as I wanted to find out what happened. It was a very informative read and I hope it has helped to raise a lot of awareness.

Published in 2025.