Why people recommend it
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is a biography of the physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer, detailing his pioneering work to bring modern medical care to impoverished communities in Haiti and around the world. On an episode of The Ezra Klein Show in 2025, Kimberly Clausing recommended the book as her second major reading suggestion, outlining how it tells the remarkable story of Farmer and his co-founding of Partners in Health. Similarly, Jonathan Reisman recommended the book during a 2022 appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast, recalling how he read about Farmer's life and was struck by accounts of him flying back and forth between Haiti and the United States in between his medical school exams. Reisman explicitly urged the audience to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, explaining that for someone outside the medical profession, it was the very first work that truly illuminated for him the profound level of difficulty alongside the immense amount of humanity required to be a dedicated doctor. These podcast discussions emphasize the book's power to inspire readers through the lens of radical empathy, global health advocacy, and tireless dedication to serving humanity under the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
Who recommended it
- Jonathan Reisman Recommended
- Kimberly Clausing Recommended
Jonathan Reisman — 2 mentions
“and he i remember reading some of his books and a book about him by tracy kidder that's really great mountains beyond mountains about how even when he was a medical student he was flying back and forth to haiti in between exams”
“people should definitely read mounds beyond mountains just um for me at least sort of a person from outside all of it it was the first person to make me realize how difficult and the amount of humanity that's involved in being a doctor”
Kimberly Clausing — 1 mention
“a second is mountains Beyond mountains by Tracy kit this tells the story of Paul Farmer who founded Partners in Health”