I just finished a book called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It was one of the best books I have read, mostly because of its amazing subject, Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health.

Sometimes I feel that comments and recommendations on what I’ve read are of little consequence, but I have to say that the book and the life it is a testament to are some of the most challenging affronts I have faced recently. I am tempted to quote some passages that I feel might be challenging, but I resist that urge due to how I feel quotes have been misinterpretted in the past, which I supposed is an inevitable problem with taking something out of context.

I imagine some of you have heard of Paul Farmer, but for those of you who have not, he is a leading expert of infectious diseases (particularly AIDS, TB, and Malaria), has written extensively on the relation of epidemics and pandemics to social and economical conditions in countries with extreme poverty. He has started and still maintains a clinic in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The book is inspiring and flabbergasting at the same time.

I also read the Language of God, by Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project. I am still awaitng an ordering mess-up with the Moral Animal; so I think I am moving on to The Brief History of the Dead.