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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Pretty inspiring/sobering -- he's the Wangari of tb. Super engaging for non-fiction ; )
After seven months, I have finally finished reading this book! I think that it took me so long because some of the medical jargon grew tiresome for me, however, the parts that were about the people went more quickly. Essentially, this is a non-fiction work about the author's experiences with Paul Farmer and his associates dealing with pandemics of communicable diseases such as TB and AIDS in impoverished, rural areas ruled by dictatorships such as Haiti, Cuba, and Siberia. Farmer is undoubtedly the main character followed in this book, but his contemporaries such as Jim Kim and Ophelia Dahl are also featured. Farmer is a brilliant medical doctor who also holds doctorate degrees in epidemiology and anthropology; who grew up in an impoverished and unconventional environment; and who has established hospitals, communities, and advanced medical programs in the most precarious of situations. Tracy Kidder followed Farmer around for years, watching him work and advocate for his patients and facilities. While Farmer is indeed a larger than life genius who has accomplished incredible deeds almost superhumanly, Kidder portrays him as an idol which is a smidge off-putting, and it also begs the question as to whether or not the programs Farmer has established will outlive him when he is gone or if they are too dependent on a single savior.
I think I found this book most interesting simply because of the time I myself am living in: I read it during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time during which the entire world is dealing with and trying to eradicate a deadly virus. AIDS and TB are also deadly, and the countries featured in this book are in the midst of decades-long epidemics, yet the world turns a blind eye to it. I didn't even know there were modern day concerns about TB, I thought we had already eradicated it world-wide. It was eye-opening to understand that the only difference in these epidemics and Covid-19 is the world in which they appear: third-world versus first-world. The disparity gap is sickening and disheartening.
Well written and well documented, Kidder shows us the medical world through the eyes of Paul Farmer, from the treatment of patients, to the bureaucracy behind the medical profession; it is interesting and discouraging and strange all at once.
I think I found this book most interesting simply because of the time I myself am living in: I read it during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time during which the entire world is dealing with and trying to eradicate a deadly virus. AIDS and TB are also deadly, and the countries featured in this book are in the midst of decades-long epidemics, yet the world turns a blind eye to it. I didn't even know there were modern day concerns about TB, I thought we had already eradicated it world-wide. It was eye-opening to understand that the only difference in these epidemics and Covid-19 is the world in which they appear: third-world versus first-world. The disparity gap is sickening and disheartening.
Well written and well documented, Kidder shows us the medical world through the eyes of Paul Farmer, from the treatment of patients, to the bureaucracy behind the medical profession; it is interesting and discouraging and strange all at once.
Can I go back in time and change my major to public health? This is incredibly inspiring. Paul Farmer is a great character and an even better human.
"the only real nation is humanity"
Loved this book & wished I could have read it for Paideia like the Luther folks this year.
Loved this book & wished I could have read it for Paideia like the Luther folks this year.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I couldn't put it down! What an incredible story! I dream of a day when we have someone like Paul Farmer running the CDC and WHO.