Family, boyfriends(Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty), career, activism, eating disorder, adoption... Diane has lived and loved and shares it all....moreFamily, boyfriends(Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty), career, activism, eating disorder, adoption... Diane has lived and loved and shares it all. What a life!(less)
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Tracy Kidder (The Soul of a New Machine) documents the amazing life of Dr. Paul Farmer, one of the founders of Partners...morePulitzer Prize-winning author, Tracy Kidder (The Soul of a New Machine) documents the amazing life of Dr. Paul Farmer, one of the founders of Partners in Health, a nongovernmental organization that is the only health-care provider for hundreds of thousands of poor in Haiti, Africa and many other of the poorest third world countries.
Kidder delves into Farmer's most unusual childhood which was spent on an old houseboat in Florida, and recounts Farmer's amazing, almost manic early adulthood, when he juggled work in Haiti and study at the Harvard Medical School (Farmer received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in anthropology simultaneously in 1990.)
In 1993, Farmer received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" for his creation of community-based treatment methods for patients with tuberculosis. He donated all the money to one of his projects in Haiti.
Kidder also recounts his time with Farmer as he travels to Moscow; Lima, Peru; Boston; and other cities where Farmer relentlessly seeks funding and educates people about the hard conditions in Haiti.
The book occasionally gets bogged down in details, but overall, is inspirational and provides a facinating look at an almost super human being and genuine hero. (less)