Summary

“Introduction: Gregory and Stokes,” tells the stories of Gregory Watt, son of the famous inventor, James Watt, and Stoke Goodrich, the author’s great-uncle, the son of a doctor. Both men died young after struggling with tuberculosis (TB) for years, despite the best efforts of their respective fathers to treat them. Watt attempted to invent a device that could cure TB, and Dr. Goodrich attempted to heal his son through the power of clean living. Neither of these attempts worked. For centuries, people died of TB due to a lack of understanding. Today, we have an effective cure for TB, yet more than a million people a year still die due to lack of money and unequal distribution of resources.

In Chapter 1, “Lakka,” author and philanthropist John Green and his wife Sarah are visiting Sierra Leone as part of Partners in Health...