Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2025-05-10
Books mentioned on 157. The Deadliest Disease in Human History
John Green returns to the show to talk about tuberculosis — a disease that kills more than a million people a year. Steve has an idea for a new way to get treatment to those in need.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Everything Is Tuberculosis
Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green is a comprehensive non-fiction work exploring the history, science, and ongoing persistence of one of humanity's deadliest infectious diseases.
Discussed“In the past, John said that discussion influenced his decision to stop writing the novel he was working on and instead devote himself to writing his new book, Everything is Tuberculosis.”
Where to get it
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The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is an acclaimed young adult novel that follows two teenagers coping with terminal cancer diagnoses who fall in love while navigating the painful realities of mortality.
Discussed“I'll give you an example of what I mean and this is quite embarrassing but when I was writing the fault in our stars it's about a girl living with cancer and her favorite author lives in the Netherlands...”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Fault in Our Stars
“Green built his reputation writing blockbuster young adult novels like The Fault in Our Stars and creating extremely popular YouTube channels, including Crash Course.”
Passing Turtles All the Way Down
“And I also think after The Fallen Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down came out, my last two novels, something weird happens when you I mean, look...”