Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder
John Tracy Kidderis an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine, about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth12 November 1945
CountryUnited States of America
imposing landscape means order painting
Painting the landscape was, in a sense, another means of exerting control, of imposing order on the disorderly.
far judging nice people profession
You don't get far with people by judging them, and one of the nice things of my profession is I don't have to. It makes things a lot more fun, more interesting.
imagined layers saw side
Northampton has layers and layers. I saw a whole side of it I didn't know, hadn't imagined had existed.
certain decency level
I think there's a certain level of decency and honor.
brilliance charity degree idealism public witnessed
PIH combines idealism and brilliance to a degree I've never witnessed before in the public charity arena,
convince convincing crucible everybody great months trying war
For months I'd been trying to convince myself, by convincing everybody back home, that in the crucible of war I'd made that great transition,
great impress seemed suddenly writer
Suddenly the idea of being a writer seemed much more romantic-and a great way to impress girls.
building front great grew home town vanished
I grew up in Long Island, a place that vanished in front of my eyes. I grew up there in the '50s, in the great building boom. It was pretty distressing-you go away and come home and find a whole town gone, a cloverleaf in its place.
hate monastery worked
Andover was like a monastery back then. We worked all the time. The hazing was ferocious-I still hate to think about it.
confused feeling sure tend vietnam
I'm sure that many set out for Vietnam feeling confused or unhappy, as adolescents tend to do,
boston russia sick
Paul Farmer has helped to build amazing health care system in one of the poorest areas of Haiti. He founded Partners in Health, which serves the destitute and the sick in many parts of the world from Haiti to Boston and from Russia to Peru.
writing done copying
The hardest thing was learning to write. I was 13, and the only writing I had done was for Social Studies. It consisted of copying passages right out of the encyclopedia
commitment years two
When I select a topic, it's usually a commitment of two to three years of my life
giving world gone
Things were here before you and will be here after you're gone. The geographic features, especially, give you a sense of your own place in the world and in time