Whatever It Takes

Ok, I’ll start with full disclosure.  This post has nothing to do with software design or definition.

Instead, this post is about a very interesting book that I am currently reading and one that I feel compelled to share with the Catalyze community.  And the title of this post is borrowed from the mission statement of Partners In Health.

The book is Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer.  This is the story of how a young medical student at Harvard co-founded a group called Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987 to serve one of the most impoverished areas of Haiti.  PIH has since grown into one of the world’s leading health organizations for developing countries and has pioneered techniques for treating TB and AIDS. 

One takeaway from the book is best summed up by a online review for the book I read on Amazon.com:

The title “Mountains Beyond Mountains” is a metaphor for life – once you have scaled one mountain (challenge), there are more to come. This is especially true for Paul Farmer, MD, who has devoted his life to what most people call “the impossible.” He has faced mountain after mountain in his quest to help mankind.”

Mountains Beyond Mountains is an inspiring and good read to help put things in perspective, especially challenges we may be facing.  The book has been out since 2003 and I cannot believe it took me 4 years to get around to reading it.

If you want to learn more, here are some other links that may be of interest:

• Wikipedia entry for Paul Farmer
• Video of talk given by Paul Farmer and Tracy Kidder for Cambridge Community TV