Name: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Rating: 4.162790697674419 (43 reviews)
ISBN: 9780812973013

Tracy Kidder

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

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Not much of a driving narrative to keep it interesting. Would work as a long form article, but not a whole book. 

Jeff Dlouhy

Belle

I enjoyed learning more about diseases like TB and MDR-TB, but otherwise this book was mostly about Paul Farmer's life and philosophies, which I didn't take much away from.

Udit Desai

Inspirational and good insight into global health and medicine in poverty. Recommend to any doctor

Jeremy Anderberg

“People call me a saint and I think, I have to work harder. Because a saint would be a great thing to be.” —Dr. Paul Farmer

More years than not, my mother-in-law has gifted me books for Christmas or my birthday that I’ve already read. But, she keeps on trying, and this last Christmas she nailed it with Tracy Kidder’s marvelous story of Dr. Paul Farmer.

While Farmer’s backstory is somewhat covered, Kidder really focuses on the doctor’s lifelong quest to help the poor — what he calls his “O for the P,” or “preferential option for the poor” (taking a nod from liberation theology, even though he’s not much of a religious man).

The setting is mostly Haiti, where Farmer’s non-profit has built a hospital complex that treats TB, AIDs, malnourishment, and more. He does this for decades before receiving recognition from the wider medical community for his strides in treating TB. Most inspiringly, Farmer is well-known for bucking against the medical establishment’s pragmatism when it comes to treating illness and diseases in poor nations. Kidder writes:

“Strictly speaking, all resources everywhere were limited, Farmer would say in speeches. Then he’d add, ‘But they’re less limited now than ever before in human history.’ That is, medicine now had the tools for stopping many plagues, and no one could say there wasn’t enough money in the world to pay for them.”

Dr. Farmer rails not only against uncaring governments but also WLs (“white liberals”) who just want to throw cash at the problem, other doctors and scientists who focus on the bottom line, and just about anyone else who gets in the way of his treating every patient who comes his way.

This book is about so many things — a man who found his true calling, the global medical community (industry, really), the interconnectedness of disease and poverty. It’s both inspiring and frustrating, meaningfully spiritual and intensely scientific, compassionate (towards the poor) and condemning (towards everyone else).

Mountains Beyond Mountains is a great read that I think just about everyone would enjoy.

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

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