|
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World | 
 enlarge | Author: Tracy Kidder
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $10.95 (69%)
New (80) Used (247) from $5.00
Rating:  139 reviews
Sales Rank: 310
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0812973011
Dewey Decimal Number: 610.92
EAN: 9780812973013
ASIN: 0812973011
Publication Date: August 31, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Satisfaction 100% guaranteed!
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 134 more reviews...
 A Contrast of What Should Be with What Is November 30, 2004
Thomas M. Loarie (Danville, CA USA)
127 out of 134 found this review helpful
"Mountains Beyond Mountains" is no exception to Tracy Kidder's excellent body of work. I have been a fan since he wrote "Soul of a New Machine." Kidder impressed me then, as he does now, with his upfront investment of time before putting pen to paper. Fortunately for us, his hard work translates to first class storytelling.
The title "Mountains Beyond Mountains" is a metaphor for life - once you have scaled one mountain (challenge), there are more to come. This is especially true for Paul Farmer, MD, who has devoted his life to what most people call "the impossible." He has faced mountain after mountain in his quest to help mankind.
Farmer starts out devoting his life to providing the most rudimentary medical care to impoverished Haitians (the shafted of the shafted). By age 27, he had treated more illnesses than most doctors would see in a lifetime. With time, he finds himself on the world stage trying to find a cure for drug resistant tuberculosis, undertaking the difficult role of a global fundraiser, and fighting big pharma for lower drug prices. He is a modern day medical hero.
For me, Farmer serves as a startling contrast to Robert K. Maloney, MD, the well known Los Angeles ophthalmologist who has been featured on TV's "Extreme Make-over." Maloney, who was profiled October 26, 2004 in the Wall Street Journal, said that after he completed his medical training, he came to a disquieting conclusion: "I really didn't like sick people." Maloney has since specialized in LASIK refractive surgery (considered cosmetic surgery) and pampers his patients with 25 person staff, and a suit-and-tie concierge who serves pastries and coffee in the waiting room. He then follows up after his patients return home with a gift box of gourmet chocolate chip cookies and a mug bearing the invitation, "Wake up and smell the coffee." He says he now earns more than the $1.2 million in salary and bonuses he made during his last year at UCLA (several years ago), but he won't say how much.
Farmer serves as reminder of what medicine aspired to be - the buck as only a means to an end....ending poverty, ending tuberculosis, ending the plight of many humans who cannot receive treatment from a qualified and trained doctor. Dr. Maloney serves as a reminder of what medicine has become - the buck and celebrity as ends. We should all get one of Maloney's mugs so we, too, can "Wake up and smell the coffee" ...before it is too late.
Read "Mountains Beyond Mountains," if only to regain hope of what medicine can be.
 Missed chances June 22, 2005
Bob Armstrong (Katy, TX USA)
65 out of 96 found this review helpful
Yes, PIH is one of the world's best examples of aid to those in desperate need. Yes, Kidder's book dramatizes Paul Farmer's brilliant ability to function in both the medical edens and the hellholes of the world. However, three specific flaws in the book and its subject matter leap out at the lay reader.
First: For every doctor, nurse, aide, and benefactor that Farmer inspires, he may quite possibly alienate ten more by his arrogance and scorn for established medical and political resources. Farmer's tunnel-vision focus on specific cases and sites at the expense of international perspective seem to rob him of stature required to spearhead the fight against the tuberculosis pandemic, reducing his influence to that of a thorn in the side of the medical community. His apparent disinclination to cooperate with local government to effect vital infrastructure improvements such as repair of the main highway in Haiti (even though his own patron owned a construction company!) diminishes the effectiveness of his toil to a fraction of its potential.
Second: Tracy Kidder obviously kneels at the altar of Farmer's personality cult. While hero-worship buys Kidder a seat on Farmer's bus, to keep any semblance of fairness and perspective it should be balanced by some modicum of discussion about other medical programs which compete for the same resources and aim at similar goals. Kidder dismisses Farmer's subversion of legitimate medical funding and outright theft of equipment from American hospitals as impish pranks, while celebrating Farmer's careless neglect of his own personal health as selfless altruism instead of characterizing it as the senseless waste of Farmer's priceless time and productivity it is.
Third: This book missed a golden opportunity to educate readers (including myself) who need reminding about the history and political background of Haiti and other similarly disastrous products of the colonial era. Kidder flippantly ridicules the policies of both the U.S. government and international organizations, implying they are universally the results of incompetence, corruption, or at best selfish interest. It would have taken the author relatively little time to obtain and record the perspective of some of the many career diplomats and aid workers who have spent their careers struggling to stem the tide of oppression, poverty, and disease that Farmer so blithely wades through.
Aha! You have to listen to messages from angels! July 3, 2005
Suzie Martin (Detroit, MI USA)
51 out of 58 found this review helpful
Butler University in Indiana has required that all their incoming freshmen read MBM prior to orientation. Bravo! My high school French students sponsor a child in Haiti through Compassion International and we are reading it to gain insights into the culture there. But it has done more than that. It makes you THINK differently about how we view other people. Paul Farmer's aim is not just to educate, but to TRANSFORM. MBM is a "can't-put-it-down" incredible book. Tracey Kidder, the author, says, "The world is full of miserable places. One way of living comfortably is not to think about them, or when you do, to send money." Well, he sweated up and down the mountains trailing Paul Farmer to get this real and phenomenal story.
The mortality rate for children in Haiti is abominable. I think only 50% of the children reach their 5th birthday. Oprah and Mel Gibson should turn this story into a movie and broadcast it to the world....how a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Comma.
 Far From Perfect September 2, 2006
Diego Izurieta (California, USA)
21 out of 60 found this review helpful
I am a teacher at a new school, and this was a mandatory read for all faculty and students.
This Tracy Kidder book is about a man who has sacrificed a lot for people who are in desperate need. I applaud Paul Farmer for his work and giving nature. However, I question his parental abilities and dedication to what should be the most important thing in his life: his family. He will most likely never be around to see his daughter grow up. His unselfish (?) actions towards the Haitian people put his family on a second level of importance. Who is going to be the father figure to his daughter if he is never there? What about the abandonment his wife must feel? How about sharing a romantic French meal with his wife? Why not put this in the book? Kidder spent more time describing the relationship with Ophelia than talking about the docter as a family man. The reason for many broken families in our society today is because there is no father figure around for the wives and children that need him the most. Is he working for the greater good? Probably. Should he abandon his work? No, but maybe balance is a good thing.
He seems to be a person who backs up his talk with action. A lot of people criticize without doing anything about the world's problems. Farmer is not one of those. He reinforces his ideals with personal committment. But one couln't help but notice the socialist undertones that he projected throughtout the heavy and tedious narration. Instead of blaming the Haitian Government for the woes and poverty of its people, for the corruption, for the heavy hand of the military, and educating Haitians on how to better their country, it was the US fault for building a dam. Farmer is admirable in many, but not every way.
The Kidder writing had its moments of dry humor and captivation. But my genuine interest was not tapped until the two female doctors' conundrum of taking John to the US. The high point was how Farmer and Kidder demonstrated how useless the United Nations and the WHO are: a burocracy that should learn a lesson from Farmer. Action not words. As a literature and foreign language teacher I found the narration troublesome and politically skewed. Some of the Spanish translations were too literal. The descriptions seemed insincere and artificial. I lived in a third-world country for five years. Pulitzer Prize? Not this time! Is Paul Farmer an inspirational main character and a good role model: obviously in many ways. Is he flawless? I'll tell you when I get back from the my daughter's art class.
Farmer as saint, Haiti as Hell and Kidder as biographer October 9, 2006
R. M. Williams (tucson, arizona USA)
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
This book was a loan. It is a worthwhile and absorbing read, mostly because of Kidder's writing ability. The book exists on three distinct levels: the first is as a biography of an interesting man-Paul Farmer, the second is a story about Haiti, the abuse of both it's people and it's land over time and how that creates the modern morass, and lastly is the story of how Kidder became a Farmer fan or how i came to write this book. The book is tying these three levels, these distinct threads into an engrossing and fascinating story so that by the end you too are a Farmer fan.
Why do some, a pityfully few people, seem to do something with their lives, seem to matter in the long run, seem to get useful work out of their time here that others just seem to waster and squander? Is it technique, is it passion, is it ability and in their genes, is it just restless energy? The book offers a few insights into this complex and important topic. But mostly it is a straightforward biography of Paul Farmer, from an unusual childhood to travelling often from Haiti to Boston, from the bottom to the top of the social and material world, about a dichotomy expressed in the life of one man: love of these poor people and love of modern medicine and what it can do for patients as real people.
I appreciated the book, i can hope to read more like this, i can never hope to be like him and will remain a spectator of such people, who seem to exist on a plane of their own. I am glad they live among us and i would believe that their presence blesses the rest of us. But i will remain in the bleachers cheering them onward, perhaps i can write a few small checks to their works but i will always see them from afar. Kidder does all us avid readers a great service by writing down what he saw and heard, thanks.
|
|
|
|
| |
