Inspiring and informative, but dry at points

books:


	• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World Tracy Kidder Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 136 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Mountains Beyond Mountains
From a high school student - 2 March 2008

Tracy Kidder, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Soul of a New Machine, veers off on a different course as he explores new areas of the world and the problems they face. Upon his inquiry, Kidder encounters Paul Farmer, a prominent physician and anthropologist. It is there where Kidder's interest in Farmer's work grows and he realizes the great impact this one man has on so many people. Kidder describes Paul Farmer's unorthodox childhood and the conditions in which he grew up, from living in a secondhand bus and leaky boat to starting a herpetology class in forth grade. Despite Farmer's childhood, Kidder describes him as a gifted person and Farmer his headed on the path of a "big-shot Boston doctor" in which he attended college at Duke and later Harvard where he studied to earn his MD and PhD. Later in the book, Kidder describes Paul Farmer's accomplishments and his work in countries such as Haiti, Peru, and Russia. Paul Farmer did not just practice his medical and life-saving work in these countries - he lived it to the fullest. Farmer, with the help of some generous donors, built a health and social-wellbeing organization titled Partners in Health. There he helped and cured thousands of patients and not only gave them the physical ability to live, but the hope as well. Farmer once said, "It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situation by habituation" (Kidder 61). Farmer worked day in and day out to prevent this mindset and reeducated the improvised communities to strive for success and a new life; he was not just a doctor, he was a mentor, a life-saver, and a gift to everyone he met. In one passage, Tracy Kidder describes Farmer's dedication and devotion, "He told me he slept fours hours a night but a few days later confessed, `I can't sleep. There's always somebody not getting treatment. I can't stand that'" (Kidder 23). It is Farmer's complete focus on the task at hand that Kidder says makes him so outgoing and so successful in everything he does. Paul Farmer is a man of action, and in doing so he has given up his life to changing the world and making it a better place. When reading this book, you will wonder why everyone is not as caring as Paul Farmer and hopefully you will be inspired to make a change in your community. Reading this book, you may feel a rejuvenation of your soul and will be encouraged to act out in generosity and love to your neighbor as Paul Farmer did. Kidder's well-crafted words clearly express the conditions of Haiti and the poor around the world, as well as the brighter aspect of human nature and the ability to love. This book is truthfully an inspiration and well worth the eleven dollars you spend. Those readers looking for an outlet or a way to make the world a better place may be inspired to send donations to Partners in Health so people like Paul Farmer can continue to spread life and hope throughout the world.

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Fantastic Read!

Mountains Beyond Mountains Book Review

Tracy Kidder's excellence in writing is proven yet again, as he brings to life the history of one man who changed the lives of many people around the world. Read and used by Reader's Circle, a nation-wide book club, it proves its greatness as it describes the disturbing, yet motivational work that Paul Farmer accomplished while living in countries stricken by the political wound of poverty.
Growing up in a second-hand bus, once used as a mobile tuberculosis clinic, and later a hull ship that was repaired by his father, Paul shows the true transformation - from rags to riches - any motivated person can accomplish. Even from a young age, he became familiar with the deprived nation of Haiti, starting with his early occupation picking citrus with Haitians, as his father, referred to as the Warden, "described, briefly the epic poverty of their country" (Kidder 51). Paul excelled in class, only to later receive a "Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard" (Kidder 7), and begin his numerous trips to Haiti, where he doctored the deprived Haitian citizens and cured many cases of tuberculosis and other dangerous diseases. His life story takes the reader through the troubling path of Farmer's double identity as a "big-shot Boston doctor [...], a professor of both medicine and medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School" (Kidder 10), and a meticulous savior to the dying people in poverty-infected regions. This true story breaks open the boundaries of one's mind, and makes the reader question their own legacy in life, motivating the reader to help in the potential change that can occur around the world.

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An Honest Portrayal of a Man and His Message

Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains presents a stunning portrait of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who brings healthcare to the poverty-stricken masses. This engrossing and eminently readable account follows Farmer on his heroic journey, as he ventures from Haiti to Peru to Russia while bucking traditional methods in favor of his "one patient at a time" approach.
Kidder weaves a fascinating commentary, replete with tightly connected stories of poverty, inspiration, progress, and the true meaning of heroism. Farmer, who forsakes a very comfortable lifestyle as an affluent Boston doctor in order to follow his conscience, dedicates his life's work to providing "a preferential option for the poor" (Kidder 81). Farmer's wit, candor, and, most of all, humanity shine in the vignettes distributed throughout the narrative. After absorbing this disquieting tome, one cannot help but wonder how pragmatism and the market economy have discarded one of Farmer's most incontrovertible truths: "We're all human beings" (Kidder 80).
Kidder's narrative is somewhat distorted by the unabashed hero-worship contained within. But what makes this book shine is its human quality: the captivating blend of a man, his message, and his "oeuvre." I cannot imagine a more perfect book to open one's eyes and one's heart, and that is why I heartily recommend Mountains Beyond Mountains.

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An extraordinary man in a harrowing place

I love everything written by Tracy Kidder. This book was chosen because he was the author listed, not because of the subject matter. In fact, Kidder doesn't disappoint and Paul Farmer, the main character in this true story is a subject I long to know more about. I am glad to not have read the Amazon reviews prior to forming my own opinion of the book. Yes, Farmer stole supplies from Yale to give to the poor. Yes, Farmer does alienate some people in his zeal to help the sick poor people. However, none of that overshadows the fact that Farmer accomplishes miracles while others sit and contemplate what to do.

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Inspiring and informative, but dry at points

Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains is an account of the life and deeds of Dr. Paul Farmer, a brilliant Harvard graduate who works wonders for the world's poor and sick. He puts almost all of his time into his work helping the poor, and a very large portion of his money as well. He never sees his paychecks of about $125,000 a year, which are all sent to a bookkeeper at Partners in Health, his charity, who pays his bills and then deposits the remainder in the charity's treasury. Because he hardly keeps any money for himself, the bookkeeper once told him, "Honey, you are the hardest-workin' broke man I know" (Kidder 23).
Kidder's account of Farmer's work becomes very dry at several points, especially when it is describing in detail the medical issues Farmer's patients undergo, and may be hard for some to understand without some background in medicine. This book would provide a reality check for many readers, showing how terrible the living conditions are in poor nations of the world today. For example, the house Dr. Farmer lived in while he worked in Haiti was similar to most of the other peasant housing, but "[...] exceptional in that it had a bathroom, though without hot water" (Kidder 23). Another example of Haiti's living conditions is put bluntly by another doctor who worked there, who stated, "There's no electricity here. It's just brutal here" (Kidder 80). The majority of the Haitians live in severe poverty, in conditions most Americans would cringe at, without running water or electricity.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who are interested in the fields of charity or medicine.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, Among Schoolchildren, and Home Town. He has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the ?master of the non-fiction narrative.? This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur ?genius? grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life?s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer?brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti?blasts through convention to get results.

Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.?s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb ?Beyond mountains there are mountains?: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

?Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with the force of a gathering revelation,? says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr says, ?[Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.?

From the Hardcover edition.

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