Rating: 
Summary: A True American Hero
Review: Tracy Kidder has again written a wonderfully readable book about a real person whose life is an inspiration. Dr. Paul Farmer is a true hero who would "cure the world". Mr. Kidder again shows his great talent for bringing the main character and his work alive in the pages of his book. I've have read all of Tracy Kidder's books so far and they have all been memorable for his ability to portray real people who are interesting because of their "humanness"; this, though, is the best.
Rating:
Summary: A True American Hero
Review: Tracy Kidder has again written a wonderfully readable book about a real person whose life is an inspiration. Dr. Paul Farmer is a true hero who would "cure the world". Mr. Kidder again shows his great talent for bringing the main character and his work alive in the pages of his book. I've have read all of Tracy Kidder's books so far and they have all been memorable for his ability to portray real people who are interesting because of their "humanness"; this, though, is the best.
Rating:
Summary: One Remarkable Man
Review: When I hear about someone with a Harvard degree whose life work is tending to the health needs of the poorest people in Haiti, my knee-jerk reaction is to figure that somebody else could be playing their role. He should be working on a cure for cancer. So I approached this volume with a skeptical attitude. But it's a great book, because Paul Farmer is a great man, and Tracy Kidder tells his story in such a way that it touches on all of the issues you might imagine and hope it would.It is a story about persistence and obsessiveness. It is about starting small, setting an example, and gradually gaining the world's attention. The fact is, Farmer IS working on a cure for cancer. Except it's not cancer, it's tuberculosis, and he's not approaching the thing from an experimental point of view but clinically, epidemiologically, and politically. It's a story about fundraising and about medicine. It's a story about the power of personality and the power of institutions. The institutions range from a one-man clinic on a plateau in Haiti (it's larger than that now) to the World Health Organization. Above all, it's a story about Haiti and the plight of the poor. Farmer is about forty-five years old right now (2004). His upbringing makes a trailer-home upbringing look lavish, but he graduated from Duke and Harvard. He's now a professor at the Harvard Medical School who spends most of his time treating the people of Haiti. He also travels the world on behalf of the health issues he cares about (not limited to TB nor to Haiti), and we learn how he has managed to bring about great change. He has a wonderful benefactor, Tom White, whom I would have liked to have gotten to know a little better. (I don't know whether to blame the author here; White has never even let Farmer put a plaque up with his name on it.) Interestingly, Farmer is a blunt kind of guy, not a diplomat at all, nor even a particularly happy fellow. He just pounds away. He's pretty stern, pretty unforgiving of the people who don't see things his way. He's got a nerdy, sharp-edged charisma, though, and in Kidder's telling there's enough perspective and gallows-type humor to keep the story bouncing along. But make no mistake: you will not rest easy with it. And that's a GOOD thing.
Rating: 
Summary: The man who walks the walk.
Review: You may think he is crazy, or a commie, or a dreamer but you have to admire Paul Farmer. I think most likely he is a truly good genius. Alot of WLs (white liberals) talk the talk but his guy walks the walk, about a million miles of it. He is sort of a Mother Theresa + doctor + scientist. Sure he may come off as abrupt or self righteous from time to time but I believe this guy really does care for the downtrodden of the world. If you were inspired by this book as I was consider making a donation to his organization, Partners in Health, which is what I did as soon as I read the last page.
The book itself is somewhat superficial in it's analysis of Farmer. I am concerned about his family, for instance, and his daughter having a long distance dad. I'm not sure how he reconciles this. I guess Gandhi had the same issue. I think Kidder did an OK job though and I would not fault him for his introspection as other reviewers have.
All in all a solid uplifting book that makes you feel good about mankind.
Rating:
Summary: both thrilling and important
Review: You might think the story of a caregiver in the poorest country in the western hemisphere would be depressing. You might think that learning about the "Global ATM"-- aids, tuberculosis, and malaria-- and that these three diseases kill six million poor people a year, would be depressing. Yet, the story of Paul Farmer is energizing, and will leave you breathless as you see the human potential of one person to make an enormous difference. Tracy Kidder is at his best in this book, and does a magnificent job covering different shades of character and events. And finally, this book is also a love story with the Haitian people, a people cursed by 200 years of bad government and western imperialism, for whom even the smallest effort and assistance will save many lives. Please read this book, and buy it as a present for those you love. It can change your world. ps, see www.paulenglish.com/travel/haiti/ for info about my first trip to Haiti, taken as a result of this book.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS AND DO SOMETHING
Review: You would have to be heartless or stupid not to be moved by this book. In a day and age when our world (def:commerce, media and populations of developed countries) care more about material appearences and the plight of Michael Jackson or Martha Stuart than about the needless death of millions of poor people, Thank God there are people like Dr Farmer, PIH et al. I have had the opportunity to work first hand with medical teams in impoverished parts of South America and know exactly the exhilarations and heartbreaks that Mr Kidder describes in his book. This book caused me some self examination and reminded to always keep patients and families at the heart of my trips instead of selfishly looking for that "good feeling" that comes from helping someone less fortunate. Dr Farmer's courage and dedication will blow you away - how can one man do so much? READ THIS BOOK and if you are moved then don't hestitate helping where it is needed. Try the following:
Partners in Health (Dr Farmer's organization)
American Leprosy Mission (www.leprosy.org)
Healing the Children (www.HTCNE.org)
Shared Hope International (www.sharedhope.org)
On a final note I have shared this book with my college and highschool children who have gone on to share it with their friends - change starts small.
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