The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

John Green evaluates the current geological age through a series of personal essays that assign star ratings to facets of the human-dominated world. Using a five-star scale, he reviews diverse subjects such as the QWERTY keyboard, Canada geese, Diet Dr Pepper, and the Halley’s Comet. The book tracks how human intervention reshapes nature, focusing on the history of the velociraptor, the spread of the plague, and the engineering of the Lascaux cave paintings. Green connects these external phenomena to his own experiences with chronic illness and anxiety, functioning as a study of how humanity leaves literal and metaphorical marks on the planet.

This book serves readers interested in the intersection of natural history and memoir. It appeals to those who value observational science and the study of human impact on biodiversity. Readers finish the collection with a framework for analyzing their daily surroundings and a better understanding of how technological developments connect to the natural world. It provides a method for observing the contradictions of the Anthropocene, where human ingenuity and ecological destruction exist simultaneously.