Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One… (original 2006; edition 2007)

I'm sure it's a good book, but after a few chapters I just couldn't get into it. Lost my interest. I tried, but couldn't. It seemed the author would go off on tangents in the middle of the story. One moment your in the Kush mountains then the next moment the author is telling a story of another time and place. Seemed a bit convoluted with too much details about nonsense. This not to mention the author seems a tad bit self-absorbed.

I'm now finding rumors that some of this book may have been fabricated. Glad I didn't dive too deep into it. ( )

A very moving story, sometimes charity doesn't start at home. ( )

excellent. awe inspiring. ( )

recommended for: all world leaders; readers who want peace, care about literacy & education & human rights

If everyone on earth did 1/10 of what Greg Mortenson does for others, we’d have a much better world. If a hefty portion of the world’s population put in 10% of the work and effort and cash that Mortenson has done, for people in need all over the world, we might not have a perfect world, but it would be vastly improved.

At first I thought Mortenson must have some incredible amount of charisma, but really he just had the urge to help and willingness to learn, and simply showed genuine respect and care for those people he worked with and for. The only magic was his tirelessness and his level of passion for his work. That’s why I say 10%: because virtually nobody else would be able to dedicate themselves to their mission the way “Dr. Greg” has done.

I’ve read a lot of fiction books where the events take place in Afghanistan. When I was eight, my family was friends for a summer with a family from Pakistan. Yet, I feel as though I learned more about these two countries from this book than I have previously learned from all other sources.

This is a very inspiring real life story. I challenge any reader to not care about and root for both the children and adults of this region, and for me that translated to everybody everywhere who face challenges of poverty, illiteracy, or other such problems.

At the very beginning I found the writing very jarring because Mortenson, the “first” author, is referred to in the third person. Very quickly, I realized that the “second” author, David Oliver Relin, is the actual author, and once I decided that, I was able to thoroughly enjoy the book. I don’t know if the writing improved as the book progressed; it seemed to do so to me, or whether I just became so engrossed in the story that the writing style didn’t matter anymore.

The map that appears before the Table of Contents really helped me, and I always appreciate maps in books. I really enjoyed the photographs in the center of the book; I wish that there were many more of them.

Mortenson, after failing to climb K2, dedicated his life to building schools, for educating both girls and boys, first in Pakstan (the first one in a village where the people helped him as he came off the mountain) and then eventually in Afghanistan too.

How Mortenson has lived his life is laudable, although I do hope his own family is thriving.

Yes, ignorance is the enemy. I wish the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress, and all world leaders could see that.

Anne Fadiman has an essay in her book Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader about the “odd shelf.” Her odd shelf is polar exploration. Mine is polar exploration and mountain climbing. So, at the beginning of this book, when the failed K2 attempt is described, I was riveted from the start Also, I knew the San Francisco Bay Area locations, which was fun, and I was interested in the Pakistani and Afghani mountainous areas; I even learned a bit about Montana and other places.

I’d put this book on my to read list when it was first published but then I decided I wasn’t so interested. I’m very grateful to my real world book club; it’s our January selection, and I doubt that I’d have read it if not for that, and I’m very grateful that I did. A sequel has just been published: Stones into Schools Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I hope this book earns the Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org) a huge amount of money. There is a web site for this book for further information: www.threecupsoftea.com and I’ve glanced at it and intend to look at its content more thoroughly.

* NOTE: I changed my star rating to 1 after the scandal. Even when I believed all the information was accurate, I never felt that the book was written well. ( )

I have to think on this one for a while because the story of what Mortensen has done and accomplished is a separate story from a review for the book as written by David Oliver Relin. ( )