scijessreads

I did not have any expectations coming into Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green. I was actually more familiar with Hank Green and the Crash Course YouTube channel (I teach science). But I kept seeing this book, and put it on hold (it ended up being a very long hold period) at my library through Libby. But I finally go to read it, and it was incredibly good!

This is the kind of public health book we need. A deep dive, a look into the history of TB and the societal and human conditions that have both helped and hindered our understanding of the disease and its’ treatment. John Green has made TB and the ways that we as a society understand it accessible to everyone, and highlighted how much social constructs can influence our understanding or pursuit of health. This one is not afraid to state that inequity and resources and human ideas of who is worthy are deeply, deeply intertwined in how we see people as worthy of treatment and care.

As someone with a background in biology and infectious disease research, so much of this book resonated with me. Not only that, as someone who has followed the assault on public health and access, this book makes you both hopeful and angry at the same time.

“People who are treated as less than fully human by the social order are more susceptible to tuberculosis. But it’s not because of their moral codes or choices or genetics; it’s because they are treated as less than fully human by the social order.”

“The “social determinants of health”—food insecurity, systemic marginalization based on race or other identities, unequal access to education, inadequate supplies of clean water, and so on—cannot be viewed independently of the “healthcare system,” because they are essential facets of healthcare.”

“We can do and be so much for each other—but only when we see one another in our full humanity, not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world.”