| View Larger Image | Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World | Paperbackby Tracy Kidder (Author)
| List Price: | $15.95 | | Price: | $10.85 | | You Save: | $5.10 (32%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Random House Trade Paperbacks | | Page Count: | 352 Pages | | Publication Date: | August 31, 2004 | | Sales Rank: | 11,026th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780812973013
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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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 (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 232 reviews)
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What a role model. What great writing. Let's get this book in our schools by Clay Chaffin (CA, USA)  5 Stars
November 24, 2009
A great book about a brilliant, selfless man making a gigantic difference in a destitute corner of the world, Haiti. Academy, please give Dr. Farmer the Nobel Prize. Tracey Kidder, you are the best English-speaking non-fiction writer alive, and always choose such worthy subjects. Your works inspire and will endure. Thank you.
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A Humbling Read by N. Gibbons (La Grange, IL USA) 5 Stars
November 24, 2009
Kidder does a superb job of teaching us how much the human spirit is capable of. Paul Farmer has lived an extraordinary, selfless life and his accomplishments have truly made the world a better place. Reading about him and the work of Partners in Health should change your life!
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Fantastic Book! by David Klepinger (Atlanta Georgia) 5 Stars
November 20, 2009
This is one of the most inspiring books that I have read in over 20 years. The author is a master at getting you into the shoes of the central character: Paul Farmer.
I highly recommend that you be prepared to be "hooked" on becoming a volunteer for Partners in Health.
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Provides an inspirational story of one man's contribution to social change by Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) 5 Stars
November 17, 2009
This fine biography tells of a man who while in medical school found his life's calling: to cure infectious diseases and bring modern medicine to the poor. MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS: THE QUEST OF DR. PAUL FARMER, A MAN WHO WOULD CURE THE WORLD tells of his dedication to humanity and his world travels and provides an inspirational story of one man's contribution to social change in a powerful survey recommended for a wide range of collections.
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Birth control in Haiti should be an obsession, not an afterthought by Paula L. Craig (Falls Church, VA United States)  3 Stars
October 15, 2009
Farmer is clearly doing great things in Haiti. I admire Farmer for his dedication and skill. However, I came away from the book with the strong feeling that even if Farmer had five times the resources he now has, Haiti overall would be worse off in three years than it is now. Farmer is treating the symptoms, not the disease.
Haiti is already short of food, to the extent where food riots are nothing unusual. Haiti's land is badly eroded and deforested, with agriculture suffering as a result. The simple fact is that sustainable population of Haiti over the long term is probably no more than 1/3 of the present population. Kidder mentions that Farmer's clinic provides birth control when it is requested by patients, but it is clearly not Farmer's main interest. If there is to be any chance at all of Haiti becoming able to feed itself, birth control needs to go from being an afterthought to being an obsession.
Kidder's book doesn't mention peak oil, but it should. Much of the food keeping the Haitian people alive is produced using fertilizer produced from natural gas, with tractors powered by diesel, and transported using fossil fuel-powered trucks and ships. These fuels are already in short supply and likely to become more so in the next few years. If you think conditions in Haiti are bad now, wait and see what it's like when the Haitian population has increased by 10% and the price of food has doubled. Farmer's clinic may well be like trying to hold back the ocean with a syringe. For more on this, see Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture.
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Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, and the enduring classic Mountains Beyond Mountains, has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man’s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him–a brilliant...
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