Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time - Books (Greg Mortenson, Paperback)

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Customer Reviews of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Magni Onsøien
Trondheim, Norway
5th January 2009

A very good book
It was one of those books I tried to stretch as long as possible - putting it away for some comics in the evening, listening to other people talking in stead of reading it on the bus, walking home from work so I'd have less time to read etc. Because it was a good and well written book!

Greg Mortenson starts out as an ordinary climber and adventurist, trying to conquer K2, the second highest summit on earth. He failed, and got lost on the way back. The village he ended up in treated him very well while he recovered, and before he left them he got to see their "school" - an open place where the pupils where writing in the soil and had no proper teacher. He promised them to build a proper school.

The journey for the school is long, and filled with cultural clashes. Three years later the school is there, though, and the village's children have a school on their own. Soon other villages beg for schools, other tribal chiefs want a school in their village. Bewildered Mortenson is forced to say yes - how can he, the rich American, just say no? The problem is just that he is still broke, and don't have any fund for schools.

Gradually he builds these funds. Funding for a school a few schools a year are made available, the movement grows, he gets support from important religious leaders in Pakistan, from more and more people in USA and the rest of the world, and the word spreads: here is an extraordinary man building schools for the children of Pakistan (and later Afghanistan).

His motivation probably changes as he goes. The motivation for the first school is gratitude - the people of the village saved his life, and he wants to give something back. The snowball starts rolling, and the children are his motivation - they deserve education, they need it, they want it and their communities are ready to support them in their school. Over the time peace grows as his biggest motivation. He thinks - and this is a philosophy I fully support him in - children won't turn into terroists and warriors if they get education. Schools are a way to build peace, and ultimately to build safety for USA.

The book is well written, in cooperation with David Oliver Relin. The language is fluent and easy to read, and I don't remember any annoying flaws. The only negative thing is the maps, which like in many such books are poor. They have two pages of maps of the areas of work in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These maps have a few places, villages and towns marked, but there are loads of places in the text that aren't in the map at all. I understand that it's impossible to show every small place in a map, but when the maps are clearly made for the book (the small village of the first 84-pupil school is there) and when they are far from filled with small dots, I think they should have included more of the places from the text. They have built 78 schools so far, and it would for instance have been interesting to see where they are on the maps.

Tube Reader
London
3rd January 2009

Unputdownable
A fascinbating insight into previously unheard of areas and ways of life in far away places and an excellent view of the impact of 9/11 from the perspective of the innocent "collateral damage" victims. I spent a lot of my reading with tears in my eyes and it's hard not to see Dr Greg as some kind of modern day saint. A must read.

Bob Ashworth
Suffolk UK
30th December 2008

Inspirational reading
This story is very well written and that makes it easy to be drawn into the thoughts and actions of man of humanity. When you have read the book, mostly scripted by David Oliver Relin, and you are not sure about Greg Mortenson, have a look at his lecture 'Promoting Peace and Building Nations' broadcast on You Tube. He talks with sincerity and, apparently, without notes. The book unveils a tale of a man who is beaten by a mountain, 8611 metres tall and finds himself, in desperate circumstances, being cared for by the good (muslim) people of a very remote village in the Himalaya. How that affected him is something worth finding out about. Also the description of the great valleys of the Karakorum, Hindu Kush are graphic enough to have you searching for a way to take a trip along the Karakorum Highway.
Let me quote from the text, page 151:
"Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I've ever learned in my life" Mortenson says. "We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We're the country of thirty-minute lunches and two-minute football drills. Our leaders thought their 'shock and awe' campaign could end the war in Iraq before it even started" Haki Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down.......... that I had more to learn from the people.........than I could ever hope to teach them"
'Three Cups of Tea will put you in a reflective mood if nothing else.

H. Clinton
New York, NY USA
23rd November 2008

Heartwarming and Inspiring
Three Cups of Tea is the story of how one man can make a difference, and should be a lesson for all of us to never give up thinking that we can make a difference. This is an excellent story about an extraordinary individual and an incredible village most of us have never heard of before. This is a must read for any outdoor enthusiast, humanitarian, and just about anyone who genuinely cares about the world and all those living in it.
For a great book of philosophy I recommend Understanding: Train of Thought.

tessa635
Horsham
17th November 2008

FROM A RASH PROMISE............................
I never read fictional books as I prefer to know about 'true life' and this book has to be one of the most humbling and amazing books I've ever read.

From the rash promise Greg Mortenson made, grew a remarkable humanitarian campaign, in which he has dedicated his life to promote education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As of 2008, Mortenson has established over 78 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before and even more surprising is that these regions are often conversative Muslim.

He has forged formidable relationships with highly respected leaders in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and this just proves what a special man Mortenson must be.

He has inspired me to do what I can to help these regions not just because I believe education is fundamental to every society but, even more importantly, he believes that education is the only way to combat the Taliban and extremism - and he's right!

He's opened my eyes to the Muslim religion and different cultures in Pakistan and Afghanistan in a way that no television programme has ever achieved [or tried to achieve. To learn more visit: www.threecupsoftea.com

If you only read one more book in your life - make sure it's Three Cups of Tea and I promise, it will change your perspective completely.