JULY 2020 - AudioFile
Michael David Axtell narrates this inspiring audio in an earnest, believable tone that is never too dramatic. He has an appealing way of varying his pacing—some phrases quick, others measured—that works well with this intense account by a thoughtful neurologist who responded to his calling by working in socially and economically impoverished Haiti. The contrasts are riveting on many levels: Western medical bravado clashing with the helpless and uneducated, costly individual procedures juxtaposed with vast public health needs, a surgeon’s desire to fix versus minimal aftercare amid stifling poverty—all dilemmas the author struggles with thoughtfully. In such an underprivileged context, futility is never far from the surface. But for listeners, it is the sound of hope and noble intention—enhanced by the narrator’s lyrical performance. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
It is always a pleasure to meet a doctor who practices his profession with love, willing to embrace the wretched complexity which comes with believing that all lives should be valued equally. The stories in One by One by One are absorbing, sometimes harrowing, and told with admirable, unmistakable sincerity." — Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Stirring and acute, this beautifully rendered account of an unforgettable story is filled with honest reflection that will alternately swell and break your heart, only to heal it in the end.” — Dr. Paul Farmer, Kolokotrones University Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Co-founder, Partners In Health
“An important and beautiful book, unsentimental and painfully honest, vivid and clear-eyed, and very smart. For medical relief workers around the world, it must be required reading—for the rest of us, too.” — Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti (Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award) and The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier; contributing editor at The Nation
"From the first page onward, One by One by One reads like a medical thriller. The story of trying to save a life against impossible odds will grip you and also fill you with admiration for Aaron Berkowitz. There are not always easy answers or solutions to the clear injustices he describes, but Berkowitz expertly navigates us through the reality of what is possible when fiercely intelligent and kind-hearted altruistic people come together. His heart-felt book will inspire you to see the world differently and compel you to be a part of that positive change." — Sanjay Gupta MD, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Emory Clinic
“One by One by One is an engaging story of what can happen when idealism collides with reality in providing advanced healthcare to the world‘s most vulnerable citizens. Highly recommended for anyone interested in medicine or global health.” — Sandeep Jauhar, author of Heart: A History
"Berkowitz offers a riveting insider’s look at the ethical dilemmas inherent in humanitarian work. His storytelling is at once urgent and empathetic, a compelling combination that offers readers a thoughtful and honest view of the complexity that unfolds when a young Harvard neurologist brings a Haitian boy to Boston for a life-threatening neurosurgery. The questions in this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page." — Dr. Daniela Lamas, instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of You Can Stop Humming Now: A Doctor's Stories of Life, Death, and In Between
“This story of a great, humane physician, working in the bleakest of settings, is a model of what caregiving at its best can be.” — Dr. Arthur Kleinman, professor of psychiatry and of medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School and author of The Soul of Care and The Illness Narratives
"Confronts the jarring inequities of health care in Haiti and the U.S., and becomes both the deliverer and the delivered. By avoiding the pedestrian recounting of medical heroism in a disadvantaged country, he tells a marvelous and searing tale of hope in hopeless circumstances." — Dr. Allan H. Ropper, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; author of Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole and How the Brain Lost Its Mind
“A moving account of the challenges and difficulties of helping those in need in other countries—and the ethical dilemmas about whom to help and how. This striking narrative should get us all talking.” — Tanya Luhrmann, professor of anthropology at Stanford University and author of When God Talks Back and Of Two Minds
"Berkowitz writes movingly as a young neurologist facing the challenges of saving one Haitian’s life. . . . With a novelist’s touch, he tells of the complexities of arranging treatment and of the complications that ensued. [This is] a poignant and unsentimental account by a dedicated doctor doing palpable good." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Inspiring . . . a worthy follow-up to Tracy Kidder's portrait of Dr. Paul Farmer in Mountains beyond Mountains.” — Booklist
“In this touching debut Berkowitz asks difficult, sometimes heartbreaking questions…While he provides few answers, his harrowing stories provide plenty to ponder.” — Publisher’s Weekly
“An honest, moving portrait of the joys, complexities, tragedies, and teamwork Berkowitz encountered while working with patients in [Haiti]. . . . Readers who enjoy books such as Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, as well as Atul Gawande’s works, will appreciate this unflinching and inspiring read.” — Library Journal
“Berkowitz and Janel's ambitious journey proves that choosing "solidarity over sustainability, compassion over cost-effectiveness" is something that each one of us can also adopt amidst the difficulty of our world.” — Porchlight
Tracy Kidder
It is always a pleasure to meet a doctor who practices his profession with love, willing to embrace the wretched complexity which comes with believing that all lives should be valued equally. The stories in One by One by One are absorbing, sometimes harrowing, and told with admirable, unmistakable sincerity."
Dr. Arthur Kleinman
This story of a great, humane physician, working in the bleakest of settings, is a model of what caregiving at its best can be.
Amy Wilentz
An important and beautiful book, unsentimental and painfully honest, vivid and clear-eyed, and very smart. For medical relief workers around the world, it must be required reading—for the rest of us, too.
Dr. Paul Farmer
Stirring and acute, this beautifully rendered account of an unforgettable story is filled with honest reflection that will alternately swell and break your heart, only to heal it in the end.
Dr. Allan H. Ropper
"Confronts the jarring inequities of health care in Haiti and the U.S., and becomes both the deliverer and the delivered. By avoiding the pedestrian recounting of medical heroism in a disadvantaged country, he tells a marvelous and searing tale of hope in hopeless circumstances."
Sanjay Gupta MD
"From the first page onward, One by One by One reads like a medical thriller. The story of trying to save a life against impossible odds will grip you and also fill you with admiration for Aaron Berkowitz. There are not always easy answers or solutions to the clear injustices he describes, but Berkowitz expertly navigates us through the reality of what is possible when fiercely intelligent and kind-hearted altruistic people come together. His heart-felt book will inspire you to see the world differently and compel you to be a part of that positive change."
Sandeep Jauhar
One by One by One is an engaging story of what can happen when idealism collides with reality in providing advanced healthcare to the world‘s most vulnerable citizens. Highly recommended for anyone interested in medicine or global health.
Tanya Luhrmann
A moving account of the challenges and difficulties of helping those in need in other countries—and the ethical dilemmas about whom to help and how. This striking narrative should get us all talking.
Dr. Daniela Lamas
"Berkowitz offers a riveting insider’s look at the ethical dilemmas inherent in humanitarian work. His storytelling is at once urgent and empathetic, a compelling combination that offers readers a thoughtful and honest view of the complexity that unfolds when a young Harvard neurologist brings a Haitian boy to Boston for a life-threatening neurosurgery. The questions in this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page."
Publisher’s Weekly
In this touching debut Berkowitz asks difficult, sometimes heartbreaking questions…While he provides few answers, his harrowing stories provide plenty to ponder.
Booklist
Inspiring . . . a worthy follow-up to Tracy Kidder's portrait of Dr. Paul Farmer in Mountains beyond Mountains.”
Porchlight
Berkowitz and Janel's ambitious journey proves that choosing "solidarity over sustainability, compassion over cost-effectiveness" is something that each one of us can also adopt amidst the difficulty of our world.”
Booklist
Inspiring . . . a worthy follow-up to Tracy Kidder's portrait of Dr. Paul Farmer in Mountains beyond Mountains.”
null Publisher’s Weekly
In this touching debut Berkowitz asks difficult, sometimes heartbreaking questions…While he provides few answers, his harrowing stories provide plenty to ponder.
JULY 2020 - AudioFile
Michael David Axtell narrates this inspiring audio in an earnest, believable tone that is never too dramatic. He has an appealing way of varying his pacing—some phrases quick, others measured—that works well with this intense account by a thoughtful neurologist who responded to his calling by working in socially and economically impoverished Haiti. The contrasts are riveting on many levels: Western medical bravado clashing with the helpless and uneducated, costly individual procedures juxtaposed with vast public health needs, a surgeon’s desire to fix versus minimal aftercare amid stifling poverty—all dilemmas the author struggles with thoughtfully. In such an underprivileged context, futility is never far from the surface. But for listeners, it is the sound of hope and noble intention—enhanced by the narrator’s lyrical performance. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-03-24
A close-up, personal look back at humanitarian efforts through the eyes of a doctor who has worked in Haiti and other areas of the world in desperate need of medical care.
Berkowitz, a former Harvard Medical School professor and the founding director of Global Health at Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, writes movingly of his days as a young neurologist facing the challenges of saving one Haitian’s life in a country where the vast majority of citizens lack basic medical care. “More than half the population lives on less than two dollars a day, and about a quarter on less than one dollar a day,” he writes. “So patients go to the closest doctor they can find.” When 23-year-old Janel arrived with an extraordinarily large brain tumor, the author hoped for a positive outcome by way of surgery in the U.S. With a novelist’s touch for bringing to life people and places, he tells of the complexities of arranging Janel’s treatment—raising money, getting Janel a passport, finding the surgeon and the hospital—and of the complications that ensued, including surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and rehabilitation. During this learning experience, the young Berkowitz discovered a significant lesson of humanitarian work: that success and failure are not clear-cut. Also vital, he realized, is the importance of remembering the individuality of the patients who make up the statistics of public health. As the Haitian proverb goes, “every person is a person”—“tout moun se moun” in Creole Haitian, a language that appears frequently in the narrative (an English translation follows each instance), which adds unique flavor to the prose. Recalled conversations and text messages abound, giving the text a refreshing immediacy and allowing the personality of each of Berkowitz’s many colleagues to emerge. The author also charmingly recalls his interactions with Partners in Health founder Paul Farmer, a “rock star” in the arena of global health.
A poignant and unsentimental account by a dedicated doctor doing palpable good.
