"A world so grounded in reality, it's sometimes hard to forget that Green wrote this book before the pandemic and not during.  While there are many parallels to our current climate, A Beautifuly Foolish Endeavor is a hopeful read."

Good morning, Hank, it's Tuesday, and that was from (?~0:14) glowing USA Today review of your second novel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, which comes out today.  Hank and I will be live at 7PM Eastern Time here at the vlogbrothers channel to celebrate, but in the meantime, Hank, I want to tell you how much your book means to me and why, with my thoughts being punctuated by the wonderful reviews the book has gotten.  

It really is a hopeful novel and I need hope, and not in some abstract or philosophical way, like, I need it to get out of bed in the morning.  For me, despair isn't just unpleasant, it's dangerous and flimsy or simplistic notions of hope just don't do much to counteract my despair, and I think your book manages one of the hardest tricks in fiction and in life.  It never minimizes or denies the horrors and suffering and injustice of life, but it also acknowledges that there are other truths, that there is beauty and wonder and kindness.  That's the kind of hope I find useful and I really needed it right now, so thank you.

In a starred review, Booklist says, "A raucous, boldly inventive tale of alien technology, social media, and influencers, the limits of the human mind, and the lengths humans will go to get what they want."

It really is a raucous tale.  I think it's harder to make readers laugh out loud than it is to make them cry, although A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor did both to me.  Of course, in many ways, it's a parable for our time and it's fun to find connections between my world and the world in which the characters live, but also because you've drawn the characters in the novel so carefully, I care about them on their own terms and in their own world, which is something I love in a novel.

One of the gifts of reading fiction for me is that it's a way out of myself.  Like, even the people in my life who are closest to me, I often see in the context of myself.: my spouse, my children, my brother, etc, but in A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, Robin and Maya and Andy aren't my anything, and seeing the world through their eyes really is a kind of magic.

Also in a starred review, Library Journal wrote, "Throughout this adventurous, witty, and compelling novel, Green delivers sharp social commentary on the power of social media and both the benefits and horrendous consequences that follow when we give too much of ourselves to technology."

So your first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, was the main reason I quit using the social internet back in 2018.  Reading that book, I became aware of how profoundly online experience had begun to fracture my attention, how it had encouraged me to seek things I didn't actually want and how much my daily experience of being alive was being shaped by private corporations monetizing my attention.  

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is an even bigger and more ambitious novel and as a result, it has me thinking about not just how I use my phone, but also how I use my consciousness, to what ends and to whose benefit.

BookRiot says, "In plot as well as form, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor warns against the consolidation of human power and makes a persuasive case for collaboration in both storytelling and problem solving.  If you're looking for a novel that will offer escapism alongside stinging social commentary and just the right amount of cautious optimism for humanity's future, this might be the perfect read."

I couldn't agree more, Hank.  A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is available now wherever books are sold and we'll be launching the book tonight at youtube.com/vlogbrothers at 7PM.  I hope to see lots of you all there.  More information as well as some places to discuss the book with other Nerdfighters can be found in the dooblydoo below.  Hank, again, congratulations.  I am so happy for you and also in awe of you and I'm just such a big fan of yours.  I'll see you tonight.