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Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House Reader's Circle) |  | Author: Tracy Kidder
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
List Price: $18.00
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Seller: value_booksellers
Rating:  229 reviews
Sales Rank: 762
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0812980557
Dewey Decimal Number: 921
EAN: 9780812980554
ASIN: 0812980557
Publication Date: August 25, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This compelling and inspiring book, now in a deluxe paperback edition, shows how one person can work wonders. In Mountains Beyond Mountains, Pulitzer Prize—winning author Tracy Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who loves the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.
In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account 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.” 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 a force of gathering revelation,” says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr notes, “[Paul Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.”
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 229
 Provides an inspirational story of one man's contribution to social change November 17, 2009
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
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.
 Birth control in Haiti should be an obsession, not an afterthought October 15, 2009
Paula L. Craig (Falls Church, VA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
"Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul " October 14, 2009
Margaret Bailey (Rochester, New York)
I found this to be one of the best and most powerful books that I have read in a very long time. I encourage everyone to read it as it will further open your heart, your mind and your awareness of the pressing need for international public health responses to Haiti and other third world countries.
Mountains Beyond Mountains October 5, 2009
Joan A. Sullivan (Ashburn, VA, USA)
One ofthe best books I've ever read. Very inspiring. But left me feeling that my own life has only been half lived and selfish. Thank God for humans like Paul Farmer
Mountains Beyond Mountains October 2, 2009
Gordon Bennett
"Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World" is a deeply inspiring book by Tracy Kidder, an award-winning nonfiction specialist. Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard-educated doctor with a over-sized compassionate heart, decided to give his medical skills and his life to "the poorest of the poor" and created a health-support system on the central plain in Haiti. Over the years this project turned into a foundation, "Partners in Health," that suports his medical work in Haiti, Colombia, and several other locations. Kidder's narrative reads well and highlights the man and his mission, his outstanding medical skills and research into preventing the spread of TB in third-world environments, and even his idiosyncracies. For example, this doctor makes house calls when his Haitian patients are living in villages that require a 20-mile walk to access their homes! This wonderful story renews the human spirit: it is possible that one person can make a huge difference in people's lives! I bought a discounted copy from Amazon which arrived in excellent condition!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 229
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