The author of "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Paper Towns," John Green is a passionate online video maker.

Why you should listen

John Green is the author of Looking for AlaskaAn Abundance of KatherinesPaper Towns, and The Fault in Our Stars. He is also the coauthor, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

In 2007, Green and his brother Hank ceased textual communication and began to talk primarily through videoblogs posted to YouTube. The videos spawned a community of people called nerdfighters who fight for intellectualism and to decrease the overall worldwide level of suck. (Decreasing suck takes many forms: Nerdfighters have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight poverty in the developing world; they also planted thousands of trees around the world in May of 2010 to celebrate Hank’s 30th birthday.) Although they have long since resumed textual communication, John and Hank continue to upload two videos a week to their YouTube channel, vlogbrothers. Their videos have been viewed more than 500 million times, and their channel is one of the most popular in the history of online video.

John Green’s TED talk

More news and ideas from John Green

In Brief

The Great Thanksgiving Listen, a new “Goldilocks” planet, and the White House Demo Day

August 18, 2015

The TED community has been doing some big things over the past few weeks. Below, some newsy highlights. Let’s interview our elders. This Thanksgiving, high school students across the United States will have an important assignment: Interview a grandparent or elder using the StoryCorps app. The Great Thanksgiving Listen — a partnership of StoryCorps, TED, […]

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