Summary

In “Introduction,” John Green discusses his diagnosis of labyrinthitis and the way it crippled him for several weeks. During the healing process, he began to think about writing this book about reviews for different elements of the Anthropocene, the ‘human epoch’ of history. In “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Green traces the roots of Liverpool FC’s theme song back to musical theatre, noting how many soccer teams use songs pulled from the theatre and how this song in particular is powerful at weddings, funerals, and soccer games alike, emphasizing human connectedness. He gives it four and a half stars. “Humanity’s Temporal Range” explores the fact that human beings, unlike all other species, are aware that they have a temporal range, conscious that the sun will one day explode and that their species cannot exist forever. He rates the temporal range...