An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
The Carls, Book 1
by Hank Green
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More Recommenders
“@cookedinwine @Noahpinion I LOVED those books! @hankgreen | @shanehoughton omg shane. 1984, 1Q84, an absolutely remarkable thing, the name of the wind (esp if you like GOT), margaret atwood's madaddam series, anything brian k vaughan (saga for sure), everything joe hill, less by andrew greer”
Source →Recommended by 3 notable people, including Zoë Foster Blake and Anna Akana
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
A late-night discovery of a ten-foot sculpture kicks off a novel that moves from goofy viral-video delight to pointed questions about attention, responsibility, and public personhood. The voice is conversational and often funny, making the early chapters easy to devour. Midbook, the story tilts toward moral dilemmas and the logistics of sudden fame. Its strength is showing the mechanics and human costs of virality; its weakness is a stretch of exposition and online minutiae that can slow the pace.
Read this if...
- •a social-media manager at a small startup preparing a crisis briefing — useful as a readable dramatization of how a single viral moment reshapes reputation and public reaction
- •a college student organizing a campus book club this term who wants a contemporary novel that sparks debate about online mobs, accountability, and celebrity
- •a mid-20s reader who likes character-forward near-future fiction and needs a quick, voice-driven read between denser novels
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when the narrative slows into long stretches about online metrics, press cycles, and exposition — the midbook detail can feel tedious
- •annoying if you prefer technically detailed hard science or clear-cut mystery resolutions; this is more about social dynamics than scientific explanation
- •lose interest if you dislike a YA-adjacent narrator voice or scenes that shift between jokey satire and earnest moralizing
The Carls just appeared.Roaming through New York City at three AM, twentythreeyearold April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship?like a tenfoottall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor?April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a social-media manager at a small startup preparing a crisis briefing — useful as a readable dramatization of how a single viral moment reshapes reputation and public reaction
- a college student organizing a campus book club this term who wants a contemporary novel that sparks debate about online mobs, accountability, and celebrity
- a mid-20s reader who likes character-forward near-future fiction and needs a quick, voice-driven read between denser novels
- you'll likely put it down when the narrative slows into long stretches about online metrics, press cycles, and exposition — the midbook detail can feel tedious
- annoying if you prefer technically detailed hard science or clear-cut mystery resolutions; this is more about social dynamics than scientific explanation
- lose interest if you dislike a YA-adjacent narrator voice or scenes that shift between jokey satire and earnest moralizing
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 3 sources and appears in Science Fiction and Fiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Anna Akana
“@cookedinwine @Noahpinion I LOVED those books! @hankgreen | @shanehoughton omg shane. 1984, 1Q84, an absolutely remarkable thing, the name of the wind (esp if you like GOT), margaret atwood's madaddam series, anything brian k vaughan (saga for sure), everything joe hill, less by andrew greer”
View sources (2) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Republic by Plato. Recommended by 13 sources.
“Plato stages an extended Socratic conversation that moves from concrete questions about justice into broad proposals about an ideal city, the structure of the soul, and what counts as reality and knowledge. Reading alternates brisk question-and-answer snippets with long, cumulative demonstrations that reward careful attention and annotation. Main value: a wealth of thought experiments for testing political and ethical intuitions. Main limitation: repetitive refutations, long policy sketches and dense metaphysical passages can feel abstruse and slow; patience and some philosophical background help.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.