Vigilant Corpse’s Reviews > The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a human-centered planet > Status Update

I never knew John Green could come up with such nuanced, emotional and intricate pieces of vignettes. So so different and for me, better, than his other YA popular boos. Such an important and warm yet critical collection.

"It can sometimes feel like loving the beauty that surrounds us is somehow disrespectful to the many horrors that also surround us. But mostly, I think I’m just scared that if I show the world my belly, it will devour me. And so I wear the armor of cynicism, and hide behind the great walls of irony, and only glimpse beauty with my back turned to it, through the Claude glass."

Loving this so much. So insightful, nuanced and warm.

Throughout the essays Greene effectively displays how us humans have shaped the world and our own very imaginations via artificiality. Because, that's what thrills us rather than delving in actuality. How our assumptions, ideas and the portrayal of media regarding things can dilute with the actuality and authenticity of them. Through the lens of media and such, humans tend to make their imaginations the 'reality'.

Really liking how John Greene speaks about the little details of life, little subtle moments that we often brush past but they had done many things for us, in shaping us for who we are and providing us sanctuary and/or places of terror. How through everything, he critiques and comments on the beauties and brutalities of mankind and humanity. At times adding historical lens or simply by expressing his own experiences.

This is the part 2 of my update. All the essays I read here so far emphasizes on the central idea of humans and how everything around is controlled and maintained by humans, how human emotions, cruelty and actions effect our day to day lives, but in all that, there is a striking lingering sensation of hope that displays humanity and compassion for the mankind. Very well written and thoughtful, indeed.

Learning about so many interesting and new things through this collection of essays, really enjoying my time with it. John Green is an excellent writer with great sense of witticism and humor, his essays are brilliantly structured, very provoking and striking beneath his simple way of presentation. Goodreads won't let me write much for an update, so I'll post another one. I hate this app for this fr.

Really comforting to read and explore through these essays of random yet insightful information and theories woven meticulously by John Green while having my morning breakfast and coffee. I didn't think I will read The Great Gatsby for whatever reason but an essay here emphasizes on one of the core themes of The Great Gatsby and further dwells into what made it a classic, you convinced me Green, I'll lookout for it.

A quote that masterfully captures a hoping ray in human mind

" 'You'll Never Walk Alone' is cheesy but not wrong. The song doesn't claim that the world is just a happy place. It just asks us to walk on with hopes in our hearts. And like Louis in the Carousel, even if you don't really believe in the golden sky or the sweet silver song of the lark when you start singing, you believe it a little more when you finish."