Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen)'s Reviews > An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

DNF @ 75%

“Behold the field in which I grow my fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren.”

Me: *eagerly pre-ordered this book over a year ago*
Me: *didn’t read it until my book-club picked it as BOM*
Me: *Didn’t finish said book*
Me: *Left an unfinished “It’s-not-you-it’s-me” review for over 9 months*
Me:

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Honestly, this is not a bad book. It talks about the internet in a non-demonizing way. There’s discussion of fame, power dynamics, ethics vs celebrity and all this really interesting really relevant stuff.

And the author is in a unique position to talk about this stuff? As someone who clambered to internet fame before we really realized that was a thing Hank Green (and his brother John) have done amazing things with their evolving platform-- CrashCourse for dozens of school subjects, Sci-Show for my science geeks, hilarious vlogbrother videos and those that TLDR: current events. I still regularly listen to two of Hank Green’s podcasts (Delete This and Dear Hank and John, which if you liked this I highly recommend). Hank Green literally has a whole podcast where he and his wife go through his twitter each week and discuss how this form of communication hinders and helps in politics, environmentalism and basic empathy-- a theme in this book. Aka this book covers stuff the author really, really cares about, and it shows.

But maybe that’s part of why it didn’t work for me. This narrative voice didn’t feel like a new character to me. It sounded just like Hank Green. This really may be just a case of me having already read/seen/listened to too much of the author himself. But it made the book feel lackluster to me.

In Conclusion:

In all actuality a case of “it’s-not-you-it’s-me” but if I wanted to hear a narrative voice that sounded just like Hank Green talk about his thoughts on the internet and fame…. I’d just listen to one of his podcasts.


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*puts on spectacles*

TIME TO IMAGINE A ROBOT COMPLEXLY 🤖



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I knew it!

I still listen to Hank and John Green's podcast, and a few episodes ago Hank teased an announcement. Totally nailed it with my guess it was going to be a book!

Love both the brothers and the impact they've had on Internet culture. Hank is especially well-spoken and enthusiastic about so many important things, can't wait to see how this translates into a book!