Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Beautifully written and researched. I just find it hard to admire people who steal from schools, even Harvard, and those who admire Che and Castro. However, the quality and results of his work are extraordinary.

Any doubt that: 1) one person can make a difference; and 2) there are heroes among us and they don't play professional sports should be banished by this book. What an incredible story of someone who just does not give up on some very poor, very sick people! While it helps that Dr. Farmer is also absolutely brilliant and physically tougher than a mountain goat, everyone can benefit from this kind...more

Any doubt that: 1) one person can make a difference; and 2) there are heroes among us and they don't play professional sports should be banished by this book. What an incredible story of someone who just does not give up on some very poor, very sick people! While it helps that Dr. Farmer is also absolutely brilliant and physically tougher than a mountain goat, everyone can benefit from this kind of inspiration to keep going back to our tough situation and hacking away at it. As always, Kidder writes beautifully, giving a sense of peoples' foibles and their admirable qualities in full measure. This is a book I had to parcel out to myself in small quantities so I didn't just stay up one night and gobble it up.   hide

When you start to feel that you're doing something to contribute, in your own small way, to the world, something like this comes along and knocks you back into place. However, Kidder does an admirable job of presenting Farmer as an inspiration, rather than an unattainable goal for the "average" person--which Farmer is most certainly not. Luckily, there are tireless, selfless leaders in the...more

When you start to feel that you're doing something to contribute, in your own small way, to the world, something like this comes along and knocks you back into place. However, Kidder does an admirable job of presenting Farmer as an inspiration, rather than an unattainable goal for the "average" person--which Farmer is most certainly not. Luckily, there are tireless, selfless leaders in the world like Farmer to whose pioneering efforts we can all contribute in our own ways. Hats off to Kidder for an engaging, human portrait of an amazing man and his efforts to relieve suffering on both local and global scales.   hide

Paul Farmer rose from a childhood in poverty in the US to earn his MD from Harvard Medical School – with which he continued to live in poverty. Kidder’s compelling story of Farmer’s life and work chronicles his efforts to address public health needs in developing communities around the world including Haiti, Peru, and inner city Boston. While Farmer’s willingness to sacrifice all and...more

Paul Farmer rose from a childhood in poverty in the US to earn his MD from Harvard Medical School – with which he continued to live in poverty. Kidder’s compelling story of Farmer’s life and work chronicles his efforts to address public health needs in developing communities around the world including Haiti, Peru, and inner city Boston. While Farmer’s willingness to sacrifice all and passion for serving people are certainly inspiring, the story is most powerful because it illustrates the importance of his unique philosophy of public health. Farmer has dared to offer “First World” care to the “Third World” despite the enormous cost. What’s more, he’s suggested that some ill people should receive more resources than others to prevent outbreaks of new, more difficult to treat strains of diseases like TB, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. It may not sound revolutionary, but consider the fate of an NGO that receives a US$1 million donation and treats only twenty patients. In a world where NGOs are judged by their efficiency based on the number of people served with donated funds, Farmer’s approach challenges the status quo. With the rapid growth of Partners in Health, the organization he helped found, Farmer’s philosophy is rapidly affecting approaches to public health and development around the world. Though a relatively quick read with a great story line, Mountains Beyond Mountains is likely to challenge just about anyone. The description of the epidemiology and threats posed by diseases are easy to digest, and the discussion of development theory is stated in laymen’s terms. However, the questions raised about approaches to development are relevant not only to folks in the field, but also to anyone who supports organizations financially or otherwise that work to address issues like poverty, environmental degradation, or social change. Whether you’re looking for information about the cutting-edge of development philosophy, to feel inspired by a devoted agent of change, or simply interested in a good story, this is a great option.   hide

Excellent book about an extraordinary man who followed his life's calling to cure infectious disease while almost singlehandedly changing definitions about what is reasonable to do in medicine and public health by refusing to believe that some lives matter less than others. It left me outraged, yet hopeful, and wondering about the legacy of our generation. Will our grandkids or great grandkids...more

Excellent book about an extraordinary man who followed his life's calling to cure infectious disease while almost singlehandedly changing definitions about what is reasonable to do in medicine and public health by refusing to believe that some lives matter less than others. It left me outraged, yet hopeful, and wondering about the legacy of our generation. Will our grandkids or great grandkids be asking how we could allow this kind of unfathomable suffering (in many cases directly or indirectly imposed by us) to go on while we were living the good life?   hide

Best quote: "The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water, comma. " pg 100 Dr. Paul Farmer in " Mountains beyond mountains". I don't know if there is one coherent voice for the poor but Dr. Farmer has certainly helped...more

Best quote: "The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water, comma. " pg 100 Dr. Paul Farmer in " Mountains beyond mountains". I don't know if there is one coherent voice for the poor but Dr. Farmer has certainly helped more than I have and so is entitled to make sweeping statements. I love the point he tries to make - that most of the time people who are suffering don't care what you look like, dress like etc as long as you care enough to meet their needs. I also love that he says "comma" at the end of his controversial statements as a dare to the listeners. Read the book to find out what word he actually means to use when he says "comma". The book was amazing. Someday when I am a doctor (fingers crossed), If i can do half as many good things as Dr. Farmer did, I will consider the investment in my med school education well worth it.   hide

Despite the fact that Haiti is only a few hundred miles from the US coastline, I know only a very little about the country. Prior to this year’s earthquake, my knowledge of Haiti was pretty much limited to “It was founded by slaves. It’s really poor.” The quake in Port-au-Prince really brought to the forefront of American consciousness the depth of suffering that is occurring there,...more

Despite the fact that Haiti is only a few hundred miles from the US coastline, I know only a very little about the country. Prior to this year’s earthquake, my knowledge of Haiti was pretty much limited to “It was founded by slaves. It’s really poor.” The quake in Port-au-Prince really brought to the forefront of American consciousness the depth of suffering that is occurring there, especially now. In my efforts to determine which aid organizations to donate to, I came across Partners in Health and was thoroughly impressed by the amount that they appear to have accomplished on a relatively small amount of money, and by the extremely low administrative costs of the charity. This book describes the work of PIH and specifically its founder, Dr. Paul Farmer. PIH is truly a model of public health. They are concerned not with “cost-effectiveness” or with giving into the despair and cynicism that can accompany aid to the poorest places in the world, but rather focusing on individual patients and learning from those patients the larger public health issues of Haiti (and other areas of the world). Farmer makes an excellent case for the link between poverty and disease, and the need to alleviate both. For instance, tuberculosis is spread much more easily in areas where there is hunger and overcrowding, so treating TB involves not just giving the right medicines and ensuring patients take them as ordered, but also providing food and shelter to those who need it. The book also links many major public health crises, for instance the strong relationship between AIDS and TB. Also interesting to me is about the culpability of the developed world (and specifically the US) in Haiti’s fate. The extreme poverty and an unstable government did not arise of its own accord, military and political interventions from other nations had a direct role in creating those conditions. I’ve talked to several other people who have read this book and the prevailing opinion seems to be that it is a good book, but that it “makes me feel like I’m doing nothing with my life.” I certainly felt this way while reading the book but I think this isn’t the right attitude. Paul Farmer is certainly without parallel, but I think part of the point of the book is to show how much good a single person really can do, and that it is never too late to start.   hide

Haiti has been a complete mystery to me. This book is so good that I began to get a feel for the challenges the Haitians faced even before the earthquake. Since the quake, it has helped me to know that the fine people associated with Partners in Health were there to treat the survivors.

Inspirational. Too bad the only reason I found it was because MST made me. Still,... glad I read it.