| Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time |  | Authors: Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Publisher: Penguin
Category: eBooks
In Stock
Rating:  2376 reviews
Sales Rank: 220
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 338
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.82209549
ASIN: B000OT8GTO
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
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Product Description
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban-s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual-s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan-s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools-especially for girls-that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson-s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 2376
 One man against an ocean of need . . . July 28, 2006
Ronald Scheer (Los Angeles)
366 out of 392 found this review helpful
This is an as-told-to biography of American Greg Mortenson, who has devoted his life to building schools in the remotest mountains of Pakistan. After a failed attempt to scale the earth's second highest peak, K2, he stumbles into an isolated mountain village, where he resolves to repay the generosity of the village leader and his people by building them a school. Mortenson's struggle to fulfill that promise and then committing himself to fund raising and building many more schools, for both boys and girls in this Muslim country, is the central subject of this long, well detailed book.
Rising gamely to meet all obstacles, including his own naivte, errors in judgment, and lack of financial resources, Mortenson falls back on skills and values learned as the son of Lutheran missionaries in Africa. Along the way he encounters others who have the money, the connections, and the abilities to help him on his mission, in both the U.S. and Pakistan. There are frustrations that would discourage the best of us, and there are sudden unexpected turns of fortune that rescue his efforts from oblivion. The book is a lesson in how a real field of dreams comes into being, and it is a quiet rebuff to those who seek change and order in the world's trouble spots through shock-and-awe military might.
Writer David Relin's worshipful account of Mortenson's career draws heavily on "Parade"-style drama, suspense, and sentiment. At times readers may yearn for more objectivity and wonder how much Relin might be glossing over his subject. Still, the story has a momentum of its own, and you read on, as Mortenson's fragile achievements are threatened by other forces set loose by the anti-West indoctrination of Saudi-funded madrassah schools, the emergence of the Talibabn, and the post-9/11 attacks on Afghanistan. Recommended for readers who enjoy heartfelt and inspiring stories of unusual achievement by heroically generous individuals.
 A blueprint for making a difference April 4, 2006
Sam Carpenter (Bend, OR USA)
415 out of 451 found this review helpful
After four trips over the past three years to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, and after founding Kashmir Family Aid (www.kashmirfamily.org) to aid victims of the Oct 8, 2005 earthquake, I whole-heartedly endorse Greg Mortenson and his work. This book adds new life to the over-wraught dictum that "one CAN make a difference." Beyond that, if one wants to truly get inside the rural Pakistani's heart and soul, this is mandatory reading.
My personal experience has been that once I met these people (and yes, had tea with them in their tiny homes, or in the quake region, in their tents), it was difficult to want to leave to return to the West. It's a hard thing to explain but Mortenson's book will absolutely do the job. A powerful thread within his story: It would be impossible not to love these people after getting to know them one-on one.
These remote village people are simple, strong and proud. Their lives are spent nurturing their families and working hard in a politically and environmentally tortured region. BUY THE BOOK, get inside the people of this place and then send Greg Mortenson your donation.
One man's remarkable vision March 11, 2006
JeepRoad (Arlington, VA)
137 out of 146 found this review helpful
"Three Cups of Tea" is a compelling account of the difference one fiercely determined person can make in the world. I won't use this space to repeat the descriptions already covered in the editorial reviews, but Greg Mortenson's passion for educating children, especially girls, in the rugged mountain regions of northern Pakistan is truly remarkable. The relationships he has patiently built with local people and moderate Muslim leaders in the area over many years are key to his success.
In addition to education, Mortenson's Central Asia Institute funds projects that provide health care and clean water. He is also building schools in northern Afghanistan, again with the support of local people.
One alarming chapter of the book includes a discussion of the spread of fundamentalist madrassas in the mountain regions of Pakistan, which should deeply concern Americans, including the government. It is essential for Americans to support Mortenson's Central Asia Institute initiatives to provide children with educational alternatives.
"Three Cups of Tea" is very well written, with heartfelt portraits of courageous people. It is a superb and moving story of an exceptional man.
So Much More Than Just a Book March 29, 2007
Terry Kalil (Minnesota Northwoods)
53 out of 55 found this review helpful
It's a book but then so are the latest bestsellers yet they offer nothing beyond a mindless distraction. To say Three Cups of Tea is about peace is to say that Mortensen goes hiking in the mountains. To say it's about building schools in the most desolate, remote, obscure part of the planet is to say an idealistic young man had a wild idea.
Mortenson and co-author David Oliver Relin bring the reader to the foot of K2, into a village so isolated from everything that there doesn't even exist a bridge to connect them to the world beyond the raging river that flows from the glacier fields. There Mortenson introduces us to children so eager to learn they work multiplication tables in the dirt without benefit of a teacher or books.
How does this man, so grateful to the people who saved his life, repay them? One school at a time. It's a truely inspirational story of what any of us, including a kid born in Minnesota, can do to change the world. The fact that the book is also a true page-turner and is so "can't put it down, don't interrupt me, I gotta know what happens next" good makes this must reading for every high school senior, every empty-nester, every one of us wondering what to do with the rest of our lives. Although I likely won't venture to the high mountains of Pakistan or Tibet, Mortenson has inspired me to find a way to make a difference. Go read it and find your inspiration!!!
STOP what you are doing... June 2, 2006
selffate (Washington, DC USA)
520 out of 595 found this review helpful
you.. yes YOU behind the terminal, surfing the web, maybe finding that cheap chotcky to buy or something. Stop what you are doing if you have come across this book and this review. You need to read this more than you think!
Within the confines of 350 pages you can be transported to a world that for most Westerner's and specifically Americans, is probably very unknown, and more than likely, highly misunderstood. In this world you will be introduced to a man named Greg Mortenson, or as you soon to know him, as Greg Sahib..
The story that is told by David Oliver Revin, will not just be inspiring, will not be just teeth clenching, it will make you re-evaluate what you do in your life. While most of us may talk about the incapacity of the administration, or some (unfortunatly) the hatred of the middle East, or maybe some of you are even lying down in the streets, but there is ONE person who is TRULY doing something about the problems of foreign policy by litteraly getting his hands dirty touching the earth to build a school foundation, and risking his life ten times over.
When you have read this journey, you will be saying to yourself, did he really do that? That guy is CRAZY! Did that really happen?, the Taliban? , How is that possible? In the journey that is fortold of a change of fate through a failed mountain expedition, you can see what the spirit of the individual can do and how it can be transformed. As the events of 9/11 soon come to fruition, Greg couldn't be in a better place at the right time, and with David's narration, you are litteraly put in the drivers seat.
After reading Mortensen's journey, you will want to litteraly book a plane ticket to somewhere you have never been before. In reading the accomplishments of a somewhat flawed (hey what person is perfect) individual, you will feel small and insignifigant. David Relin will not just explain what Greg did, he will make you live it, with some enjoyable side narrations that will make you grin.
In Three Cups of Tea, David has managed more than anything to explain the heart of a problem (Islamic hatred of the West) of a very complicated nature (through numerous foreign policy debacles and politics spanning decades), and how one man knows of an easy solution (Go to poor regions of the Middle East and give education and extend the olive branch. Build schools for the poorest of the poor, ecspecially for girls. And more importantly, let them know that it was done.. by an American).
As if it was so difficult to understand.
I encourage you to take this journey and figure out that sometimes the biggest problems in life require some of the most common sense solutions. I also echo the other comments on here that you should buy this book from the actually CAI institute and consider a donation as well.
Greg Mortensen is doing what he is doing best, and his passion comes through the pages. For myself my passion is to write. Like Gregg I feel it is what I can do best (when I put my effort my passion, and my soul into it).
now if you'll excuse me...
I have to go write a check.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 2376
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