Paul Farmer was born in 1959, the second of six children. He grew up in Alabama and then Florida, where his mother clerked at the Winn-Dixie grocery story and his colorful but strict father, nicknamed "the Warden" by his daughters, bought an old bus at a public auction that he planted at a trailer park near a campground. Throwing a cement block in front of the bus doors for steps, the Warden declared the Blue Bird Inn house and home for the next five years. He then moved everyone to a dilapidated 50' boat with a leaky roof, also bought at a public auction, which he moored in an uninhabited bayou on Florida's Gulf Coast. They had no running water and washed their clothes at a laundry in town. Farmer would later enjoy identifying himself as "poor white trash."

Fast forward three decades and Farmer is a Harvard MD and PhD (anthropology), clinician, tuberculosis specialist, author of numerous books and scholarly articles, recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, and, today, Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School--when he is not living in a hut in his beloved Haiti where he founded Partners in Health, or traveling a quarter million miles a year to lecture, visit prisons, or meet with George Soros or the Gates Foundation. Most important of all, Farmer is an unapologetic, outspoken, and radical advocate for the poorest of the poor. Adequate health care, he insists, is a basic human right for every human being. Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder tells the story of Paul Farmer's life and work (a calling, really) in what is one of the most challenging and inspirational books I have ever read. After I reading Kidder's book I read Farmer's own book entitled Pathologies of Power; Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (2003). I encourage you to do the same. The title for this book comes from a Haitian proverb "beyond mountains there are mountains."

Wow! Tracy Kidder has written an amazing story about a true hero of our time Doctor Paul Farmer. Mountains Beyond Mountains is the story of an amazing Doctor Paul Farmer who has not only donated most of his money but almost all of his life to fighting infection diseases in places such as Haiti. It is amazing how much Doctor Farmer really cares about the pain and suffering of the people he helps. Farmer is a brilliant doctor and could have chosen any medical field and would have been making a ton of money but instead he is helping the people who need his help the most. This book is a short book with only 336 pages but it has an amazing story, one that will encourage you to think that you can make a difference in the world. Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains is a very well written book that I would recommend to everyone because it is a great story that will change the way you think.

Dr. Paul Farmer seems to have sacrificed everything that most of us find important in order to lift up the lives of the poor in Haiti, Peru and Russia. As I read the book, I worried that he would work so hard that he himself would perish. This is an eye-opening, inspiring book. I recommend it to everyone.

BUY THIS BOOK! It's a must-read. And once you read it, pass it on.

Briefly -- This is an exceptional book, by gifted writer/narrationist Tracy Kidder, about one of the most wonderful human beings, doing good for our planet and its inhabitants. The book is inspiring, and leaves the reader wanting to learn more -- about Paul Farmer, Partners In Health, and Farmer's missions, -- and to take action to make our challenging world a better place.