Mountains Beyond Mountains, By Tracy Kidder

The Adventures of Doctor Doeverything

Paul Farmer is a doctor and anthropologist who has devoted his life to improving healthcare in developing countries.

His charity, Partners in Health, believes that social inequality and infectious disease must be addressed together. In Mountains Beyond Mountains, the Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Kidder follows him, treating patients and campaigning for resources, from Haiti's central plateau to Lima's slums to Siberia's prisons.

The author wisely eschews sentimentality, and shows how it can be trying to be in the company of someone whose example implies "such an extreme definition of doing one's best". But he leaves you in no doubt that Farmer is a remarkable man. A book to engage, inform, and inspire.