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
confused feeling sure tend vietnam
I'm sure that many set out for Vietnam feeling confused or unhappy, as adolescents tend to do,
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.
amnesia collective distant fact forget forgotten join people seems suffering surrounds
Don't join America's collective amnesia for the suffering that seems so distant but in fact surrounds us, ... Don't forget about the forgotten people in this world.
agreed decided finally hard impressed remember stay
I wanted to stay with my friends on Long Island, but I finally agreed to take a look at Andover. I remember being impressed by the school's extraordinary facilities. I thought about it long and hard and decided to give it a try.
famous landscapes summit view
The view from the summit of Mt. Holyoke has been one of the most famous landscapes in America. And yet, all these things are going on underneath.
good
The world doesn't make much sense to me generally. I don't feel like I'm good at that.
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.
book invite readers stage tried
I wanted some way to invite readers in, to set the stage for the book - and I tried many different things.
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.
nice town
The underside of a town as nice as Northampton can still be pretty gritty.
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