Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism And Build Nations One School at a Time - Library Edition

by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time—Greg Mortenson's one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson's incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Book Club, Memoir, Biography, Travel, Education, Middle East

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute, Pennies For Peace, and co-author of New York Times bestseller ‘Three Cups of Tea’ (www.threecupsoftea.com) which has sold 3 million copies, been published in 39 countries, and a New York Times bestseller for three years since its January 2007 release, and Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year.

Mortenson’s new book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books Not Bombs, In Afghanistan and Pakistan, was released by Viking on December 1st, 2009, and debuted as # 2 on the NY Times hardcover bestseller list.

As of 2010, Mortenson has established over 131 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 58,000 children, including 44,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.

In 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his humanitarian effort to promote girls education in rural areas for fifteen years.

Several bi-partisan U.S. Congressional representatives twice nominated Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 and 2010.

Mortenson was born in 1957, and grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (1958 to 1973). His father Dempsey, founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) www.kcmc.ac.tz a hospital, and mother, Jerene, founded the International School Moshi.

He served in the U.S. Army in Germany (1977-1979), where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and later graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983.

In July 1992, Mortenson’s sister, Christa, died from a massive seizure after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy on the eve of a trip to visit Dysersville, Iowa, where the baseball movie, ‘Field of Dreams’, was filmed in a cornfield.

To honor his sister’s memory, in 1993, Mortenson climbed Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain in the Karakoram range.

While recovering from the climb in a village called Korphe, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand, and made a promise to help them build a school.

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

His work has not been without difficulty. In 1996, he survived an eight day armed kidnapping by the Taliban in Pakistan’ Northwest Frontier Province tribal areas, escaped a 2003 firefight with feuding Afghan warlords by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides in a truck going to a leather-tanning factory.

He has overcome two fatwehs from enraged Islamic mullahs, endured CIA investigations, and also received threats from fellow Americans after 9/11, for helping Muslim children with education.

Mortenson is entrusted to the rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the respect of Islamic clerics, military and militia commanders, government officials and tribal chiefs from his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls.

He is married to Dr. Tara Bishop, a clinical psychologist, and they live with their two children in Montana.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here are a few things I’m suspicious of:

1. A book with two authors. It’s kind of like having too many cooks in the kitchen.
2. A book in which one of the two authors is the main subject of the book.
3. A book in which even though one of the authors is the main subject of the book, the book is written in third person.
4. Cultural imperialism.

With these four suspicions in mind, I started in on Three Cups of Tea, which was my book club’s choice for this month. Mortenson is a quirky do-gooder who commits himself to building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to educate the poor (especially the girls) who are so often lost in the rural mountains of these isolated areas. He started his quest after stopping in a small village after failing to climb K2 in the early 1990s and since then has built over 50 schools, health centers, and women’s centers.

There were lots of things I liked about this book. First off, I love reading adventure stories about far-away places, and learning more about the variety of cultures in Islamic Pakistan and various other -stans was enough to pull me all the way through the book. I also love reading about single-minded esoteric people with crazy missions who stop at nothing to accomplish their goals. Thirdly, I love the idea of fighting the war on terror through education instead of fighting - it seems like it will be more successful long-term and way less expensive, not to mention way, way, less violent.

I’m not sure I was so hot on the book itself - the writing wasn’t interesting (and it had so many chances to be) and, more importantly, the book was terribly skewed in Mortenson’s direction. He’s referred to as a hero at least a few times a chapter and praised non-stop by the people around him. Only smaller sub-prose hints clue you in to the real negative stuff - which I’m as interested in as the positive stuff: Mortenson is kind of crazy and obsessed, he has trouble with delegating jobs to people and handling money, he unapologetically spends months and months away from his family in Montana. He seems to be hurting his health in order to continue with his cause.

Now, I think these negatives could have been dealt with well by the authors - I don’t think any hero is all good or absolutely flawless. In fact, most people who have ever accomplished great things have more than his or her share of weirdo personal problems. I would have loved for the book to explore his flaws in light of his accomplishments instead of brushing his flaws to the side and dropping the Hero-bomb over and over again.

By the end of the book, I felt pretty good about his mission in general, thought. I haven’t taken any developmental studies classes and I don’t know much about rural development, but I can’t see how building schools and educating girls could possibly hurt anything. I was impressed by the way Mortenson adapted to the Islamic culture - learning the languages, dressing the part, and even learning to pray to Allah. He didn’t seem into forcing Western ideas onto the villages, beyond simple wants to educate and equalize.

More than that, though, I was interested in learning about how the Taliban is using the same tactics as Mortenson in order to win support in these rural areas - and they are winning. They have already established tons of schools called madrassas in these places, barring women and teaching only Islam and warfare. They also offer something that is rare in these isolated areas: paid employment. If Mortenson is right, giving these people options other than joining the Taliban, and giving them schools where you learn basic skills instead of extremist propaganda, might be the best step toward a long-term solution for everyone.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is driving me fricking nuts. I'm struggling to finish it, and can I help it if I feel like a bad person for HATING this book even though I totally support its main purpose and the mission of the subject??

I hope not. Jeez, where do I start. The writing? It's terrible. I am now going to randomly pick a page, any page, and find a ridiculous, klunky morsel for you:

"Suleman sat like a smiling Buddha next to Mortensen, his arms crossed over the beginning of a pot belly."

or,

"the inspiring view that greets these students from every classroom - the roof of the world, represented by Masherbrum's soaring summit ridge-has already helped convince many of Hushe's children to aim high."

or, (my personal favorite)

"And by the time the rising sun iced the hanging glaciers of Masherbrum pale pink, like a gargantuan pastry dangling above them at breakfast time, Mortenson had agreed to shift the funds his board had approved for the doomed Khane school upside to this village whose headman had traveled so far downriver to educate himself."

I could go on, but I'll spare you. If you'd like 350+ pages of the above prose, by all means read this book.

What else besides the writing? The methods - I was always told that non-fiction writing is a pretty specific genre, and that if you don't have a quotation written down from a source, or have it recorded somehow, you don't use quotations at all. The whole time I'm reading, I keep thinking, "there's no way Mortensen remembers every exact conversation he had 15 years ago!" (and that's an exact quote from my brain, by the way).

Plus, there are historical inaccuracies all over the place that made me question the validity of the hyperbolized text and the way in which the "co-author" (For Mortensen is the other) idolizes his subject beyond, well, objectivity. For example, there's an entire passage about the year 2000, when Mortensen is struggling with his lack of management skills, his frustration with the lack of sustainability of his foundation's finances, and fulfilling his duties to his family. He goes on a trip to SE Asia to observe other development projects, and ends up in Calcutta, and wouldn't you know it, Mother Teresa just died and he buys himself a big ole bouquet of flowers to honor her, and goes to pay his respects to her shrouded body. It's a quite moving passage (naturally it's littered with horrific metaphor, but I'll leave that alone for now), until it occurred to me that Mother Teresa died in 1997. Yeah, right after Princess Diana. I mean, I know that it's OK to take a little poetic license with this stuff, but the writer has Mortensen strutting his stuff triumphantly all over the Pakistani mountain ridges in 1997...guess it didn't fit in with the narrative arc that Mother Teresa had the indecency to die 3 years too early for Mortensen to mourn her loss at the same time he's reached his own personal crisis of faith.

Wow this sounds bitter. I guess my ultimate point is this: I believe in community-driven development. I believe that education and other related iniatives create stronger societies and really work to promote peace and alleviate violence and terror. But for such an important topic, I really feel that Mortensen deserved a writer who could be more objective and yes, gasp!, critical at times. I am left disbelieving in this foundation, and I am skeptical of its management and practices. I am wary of those who claim to forge the solutions for all in one single bound. I hope that I read another account of Mortensen that changes my mind. This book did little for me but make me despair for the unmentioned NGOs and others who are working (likely) toward the same goal in the same region, without the benefit of collaboration with this Mortensen's access to resources.

Oh yeah, and I resent the book jacket referring to Mortensen as a "real-life Indiana Jones." sheesh.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it's hard to give a negative review to a book with its heart in the right place, "Three Cups of Teas" is so full of weaknesses it'd be impossible to give it a rating with any more stars. In fact, the book's writing style alone is so poor, I feel generous giving it even two stars.

Though the work Greg Mortenson is doing -- building schools in impoverished parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan sorely in need of them -- is certainly laudable, his mission seems ill-served by "Three Cups." The book, billed as being coauthored by Mortenson and David Oliver Relin but obviously written by Relin alone, is so worshipful of Mortenson and the work he has done, the reader almost begins to feel Relin is being defensive. Did someone at one time attack Mortenson's good name? Is this the defense's argument? It seems that on almost every other page Relin rolls out yet another person -- "Into Thin Air" author Jon Krakauer, Congresswoman Mary Bono, people Mortenson's worked with -- to talk about how wonderful a person he is, how deserving he is of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Beyond that, there's simply not enough material here for a full-length book. Entire sections feel like padding that do nothing more than get the story to book length. (Pages and pages about a failed relationship Mortenson had before he met his wife, for instance, are almost entirely tangential.) The story would have made a good profile in "The New Yorker" or "The New York Times Magazine," but there's simply not enough material here to justify a 350-page book.

It also doesn't help that there's almost nothing here about how the education Mortenson's schools are giving to boys and girls is actually affecting life in their villages -- or if it is. Granted, it's probably too early to see many results, but is that not also an argument that this story is not quite book-worthy? Maybe Mortenson and Relin needed to wait another 10 years before telling their story.

So far, though, I've ignored "Three Cups"'s writing. Bad and often inappropriate puns, failed attempts to be poetic, and clunky, overwrought sentences make the book particularly hard to get through. It got to the point that I began writing down particularly egregious sentences. Here are a few from my notes:

"Mortenson sat on a boulder and drank from his water bottle until it was empty. But he couldn't drink in enough of this setting."

"As they drove past the scale model of the mountain where Pakistan had detonated its `Muslim Bomb,' Mortenson told his friend and fixer about the explosion of support Americans had provided for the CAI." (Get it? Bomb, explosion? Feel free to groan.)

"He leaned over the side of the truck to request a stop and saw the top of the bearish assistant's close-cropped head stretching out the window, and beyond it, straight down fifteen hundred feet to the bottom of the rocky gorge, where a coffee-colored river foamed over boulders." (Wow, the assistant's head stretched down fifteen hundred feet to the bottom of the gorge? Tell me more about this guy.)

"When Haji Ali handed him a cup of butter tea, Mortenson drank it with something similar to pleasure." (So it wasn't pleasure then? What is this something that's similar to pleasure?)

"The widely spaced streams of tracers leaped across the road like ellipses. But to Mortenson, who wouldn't learn his friends had survived until the following week, when he returned to Kabul, they looked more like question marks." (Talk about tortured metaphors. Ouch.)

This may seem like nitpicking, but these types of sentences occur throughout the whole book. (I easily filled five pages of a small notepad with only the worst of the worst.) Mortenson's story is worth telling, but I wish he'd found a better way -- and a better writer -- to tell it.

[Petra X · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another book disappeared from my shelves. I also read Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way, Krakauer's excellent expose of the ego and lies of Mortenson because I had read it. The book was totally self-serving. Mother Teresa couldn't have written better. Ok I'm not a fan of Mother Teresa, I'm don't quite swallow whole Hitchen's The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, but close. And so it is with Mortenson. He turned personal charity and what should have been morality into a business and more, opportunity for fame, self-aggrandisement and general hero/saint status. Krakauer, like Hitchens, is an iconoclast by nature and sometimes by profession.

We despise the gutter press, those tabloids that seem to exist to knock people down, but they have a place. One better occupied by intelligent writing that relies less upon our gut reaction and more about our understanding of facts and process. But still the gutter press (Dailymail.co.uk chief among them now the News of the World dug it's own grave and fell backwards into it) do their research and present the same conclusions.

Is it schadenfreude that makes me like books like this? Am I really so immature as to like to see people's feet of clay crumbling beneath them? Or is it a burning desire for justice? Perhaps a mixture of both.

________________________________

I have about 3K books on my shelves. The ones that have disappeared represent less than 0.5% that I know about. How many more though? And how many people does this "bug" affect. Librarians? Amazon imports? Who knows? GR doesn't seem to do anything about it but maybe they can't track the 'bug' down because it is done by people rather than computer programs.

[Margitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

JUST AN OPINION - NO BLURB - NO REVIEW

When starting out this book I was unaware of the controversy fueled by a hungry press to bring down a humanitarian philanthropist in their usual dog-eats-dog modus operandi.

I simply read a book by an adventurer who wanted to honor the memory of his sister in climbing K2 - the second highest mountain in the world. He not only honored his sister, but in the end honored thousands of helpless little girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan by building schools in remote places and changing their lives forever.

I worked with people such as Mr. Mortenson. I worked for many years in many similar remote communities in Africa (He worked in Pakistan and Afganistan). I could totally relate to the experiences and stories he shared. I fully understand the problems he experienced, the expectations, the impossible viability of many of these dreams by poor, remote communities. I have seen the work these organizations have done in very difficult situations. I observed the press building up a person, preparing for the biggest destruction-heist(their actual aim) to sell newspapers and airtime. I might be crucified for being this outspoken, but I am used to the consequences.

The fact remains, Mr. Mortenson DID help thousands of girls getting educated, and he DID build schools where there were no schools or hope of education before. He DID accomplish with books what bombs could not achieve. He taught the world a lesson in peacemaking that should never be forgotten.

It doesn't matter if he built three or a three hundred schools. It doesn't matter if he spent lots of money promoting his non-profit organization. He simply did not know the potholes in the road of fame. He did not seek fame, he was made famous by a hungry scandal-seeking media, and they made sure they found it.

His co-author was a journalist. A million words was reduced to three hundred thousand by a journalist. The fact that his co-author was a journalist, explains why the facts were converted to sensationalism to sell the book.

Does it really matter that he did not get lost and found a small village of people whom he promised a school? Does it matter that he visited the village a second time and made the promise then? Does it matter that he was not kidnapped?

Perhaps yes. A major faux pas. It was the two elements in his story that provided a foothold for the media to dig his grave. The fact remains, he still built relationships in these countries defying the general impression of Americans as evil people. He proved the critics of America wrong. His enemies hated him for the good work he was/is doing, and they made sure they take a good man down. He is not a villain, he is still a hero.

Greg Mortenson is an average person who grew up in Africa as the son of Lutheran missionaries; was a misfit in America(Minnesota) due to calling himself a white African; have a heart bigger than the world and politics; left everything behind to make a difference in this world. And what a huge difference it is! Apart from helping thousands of girls, he also changed the image of America in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He changed the image of these two countries in America, by writing his books and doing the talk/lecture-rounds. That is major accomplishments! The problem now is, that the people who understand dare not speak out. The hungry mobs are bulldozing their own sensational truths through the universe, prohibiting the real truth to expose them.

I admire him as a person and for the work he has done. THERE, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, GOES A MAN!

May he rise above his mistakes and his critics. May he continue with the work he is doing. The world needs people like Greg Mortenson. They are one in a billion.

I have nothing to lose by calling a spade a spade. This man needs objective people with an objective observation on the situation. I can only hope that my opinion can mean something. He needs real friends now.

[Katharine Klevinskas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm about in the middle of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and I'm ready to quit. First of all because when I just typed my first sentence here, I realized how sick I am of the words "Greg Mortenson". Half way through the book and the author is still immortalizing him by full name. I'm not a big fan of non-fiction but I've read plenty of third person accounts and don't remember this being so irritating in all of them.

Greg (smile) built schools in the high mountains in Pakistan. Huge endeavor. Wonderful thing to do. He innocently jumped in and pretty much wore himself out before he got to be a corporation with a steady income. My favorite part was him renting a typewriter to send out begging letters -- took him all day to type half a dozen letters. Then someone took pity on him and introduced him to the world of computers. He was thrilled with the 'cut and paste' keys. I get a thrill just thinking about one or two people getting involved and making changes that count. ....However, I found the writing sophmoric and I hate that. The book is two damn long, the discriptions are clumsy & too damn long and the characterization is almost non-existent.

A lot of people really enjoyed this book, so I'm not saying don't bother. It is inspiring and I truly respect the man & what he did. It's a shame it wasn't written well. For me, this book would have been a perfect National Geograpic article -- more pictures; far less words.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I approached this book with some reservation. If nothing else several years of study in Development Studies has made me very wary of "do-gooders". As others have noted, there is a strong element of imperialism in the idea of of an American's mission to "fight terrorism and build nations" and I was quite ready to be critical about it.
However I am happy to admit I really enjoyed and was inspired by the book. As Relin writes- "Supposedly objective reporters are at risk of being drawn into his orbit... The more time I spent watching Mortenson work, the more convinced I became that I was in the presence of something extraordinary." Mortenson appears to have a genuine humanitarian motivation and a deep affection for the people he works with.
I was surprised as I read the book to note that many of the paper lessons I learned about "doing development" were the lessons Mortenson learned through his work and his mistakes. "Participation" is one of the biggest buzzwords in development today and this is what Mortenson learned, and one hopes, how CAI continues to practise. This is what the three cups of tea is all about.
I do however a have a few niggles with the book. While acknowledging it was never written as a academic text I found the overwhelming positivity somewhat unrealistic. Whereever "outsiders" come in to do development or aid work, there are both positive and negative consequences, one just hopes the positive outweigh the negative. I believe in this case it does, but a more rounded discussion of the work would have been good.
And there is, possibly unavoidably, a touch of imperialism. Mortenson is American. He started out as a penniless individual who wanted to help but he now leads a growing organisation with a significant budget. I hope he continues to maintain the relationships that take this organisation above being just another development project.
Overall, I highly recommend this book, taken with just the tinest little grain of salt to aid digestion.

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three Cups of Tea is one of the worst books I've ever been forced to read. From the first page of this memoir, the ghostwriter's sickening tone of hero worship has Greg Mortenson healing the sick, making the lame walk, and performing superhumanly selfless acts on a daily basis since his earliest childhood. Luckily, the author stops short of having Mortenson deliver his wife's baby and walking on water. What was probably intended to be an uplifting tale about how even the smallest among us can change the world (think Frodo in the Lord of the Rings) reads as a nauseating self–congratulatory chronicle that celebrates the type of globetrotting do-gooding considered by many to be part of "The White Savior Industrial Complex" that is actually counterproductive.

If you want to read about someone doing truly inspirational humanitarian work with the dirt poor in Asia, then research Sabriye Tenberken and the organization Braille Without Borders that she founded. She has also penned her own memoir My Path Leads to Tibet: The Inspiring Story of How One Young Blind Woman Brought Hope to the Blind Children of Tibet.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

2011 F.A.B. Bookclub pick # I.❤️. F.A.B.

While I praise the efforts of this man and all he’s done, I was shaking my head at many parts. Especially after he was married and had a child, to put himself in harms way was a bit crazy. But thank goodness he found the right people to help his journey pay off.

[Jessica (thebluestocking) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three Cups of Tea contains a hint of a beautiful story. There were parts that made me tear up. Some of the parts that made me tear up were touching; other parts that made me tear up were painfully written.

Greg Mortenson is really an American hero. His work in Pakistan and Afghanistan is truly amazing. David Oliver Relin is an American journalist. His work, at least on this book, is not so heroic. The following are some of my favorite, terrible sentences from the book:

“And by the time the rising sun iced the hanging glaciers of Masherbrum pale pink, like a gargantuan pastry dangling above them at breakfast time, Mortenson had agreed to shift the funds his board had approved for the doomed Khane school upside to this village whose headman had traveled so far downriver to educate himself.” (p. 206)

“And rippling out from Mortenson’s headquarters in Skardu, over the parched dunes, through the twisting gorges, and up the weather bound valley of Baltistan, the legend of a giant infidel called Dr. Greg was likewise growing.” (p. 210)

“In the fall of 2003, at the desk of his aviation company in Rawalpindi, as he tried to arrange a flight for Mortenson to Afghanistan, now that the CAI’s work in Pakistan was on firm enough footing for him to leave, Bhangoo’s boss, the bull-like Brigadier General Bashir Baz, ruminated on the importance of educating all of Pakistan’s children, and the progress America was making in the war on terror.” (p. 310)

As the above sentences might indicate, the writing in this book was painful, to say to the least. Some of the folks on Amazon suggested skimming through most of the book. I don’t know if that is necessary, but it might save you a few tears.

UPDATE: I read Three Cups of Deceit and no longer believe that Mortenson is a hero. I stand by my review of the writing in this book. My review of Three Cups of Deceit can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived and worked in Pakistan for many years, and travelled to many of the places described, I enjoyed this book as a 'fun read.' I think it is very helpful for people who only have access to information about the country through mainstream media to see a side of the people, especially poor people in rural areas who are not very educated who many in the west assume to be fundamentalists, that more accurately reflects their culture: their hospitality, their concern for the future of their children - including their daughters - and that their society, like ours, is not homogeneous. For many this book will be eye opening about the very real and human side of a country most equate with training grounds for Al-Qaeda.

However, I felt the book had two flaws: (i) the co-author is a tad bit too enamoured with his subject which leads to considerable hyperbole; and (ii) this one man's story needs to be put in a much larger context of all the people working in Pakistan to try to educate children. This includes large numbers of committed and hard-working Pakistanis, local and international NGOs, and other individuals. I've known people, including women, who have slept in trucks outside village walls deep in rural Balochistan or Frontier Province for days and weeks to meet with the villagers about starting girls' schools, and worked on one village at a time much like Mortenson. Networks of many community schools have been started this way.

This is not to detract from his success. If more people could establish just a few schools with good teachers and enough learning materials, links to higher levels of learning (like the children who went on to school in Skardu and Gilgit and later returned to contribute to their village), the country might just be transformed. One village at a time.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this, like most others, when it first came out in 2006. Little did we know at the time, that there would be controversy surrounding this story.

In 2011, CBS 60 minutes broadcast a damaging segment on the author alleging that many of the stories were exaggerated or outright fabrications. They also questioned the financial practices of the author’s charity, the Central Asia Institute. This was devastating. Especially when author, Jon Krakauer, said in that interview, “It’s a beautiful story and it’s a lie.”

So, the credibility of the story, and all that occurred, and anything subsequent since then, made it difficult to trust what occurred. Although Krakauer still felt the work that Mortenson did do, was good work.

Eventually, Mortenson agreed to pay $1 million to the charity following the investigation. It was determined that he had misspent approximately $6 million dollars. No criminal charges were filed.

Which leads me to this.

After learning of the dark history, it is hard for me in good conscience to recommend this book. It may have started off as a humanitarian effort, but how it ended is unfortunate.

I personally am disheartened.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor of presenting the author, David Oliver Relin, at our library book group.

Greg Mortenson failed to climb K2, and while he headed back down the mountain, he took a wrong turn, missed his bridge, and found himself in Korphe, a village not found on his maps. (Ridges in the glacier are as big as highways.) The people there welcomed him and brought him back to health. He happened to ask them to take him to their school. There was none. The children met under the cold sky and used sticks to write in the dirt. From that point he made it his mission to bring schools to those remote mountain villages in Afghanistan.

Before they wanted a school, the villagers wanted a bridge so they could build the school. That bridge not only helped bring the school, it changed the lives of the women in the small village. David Relin told us when a woman leaves her family to live with her husband, she may never see them in her life again. One ridge in these mountains might as well be a hundred miles. This little bridge allowed them to visit their families on a weekly basis.

Excerpts, an interview, and audio with Mortenson can be found on Beliefnet here.

David said CAI will never be like Mercy Corps. It is an example of the kinds of organizations we need. Still, compared to Saudi oil money (that funds the Taliban madrassas), it is a drop in the bucket.

David had talked to all kinds of groups in the previous several months. No matter the group, everybody is fed up with the war in Iraq and the "war on terror." He said, "The enemy is not Osama, Sadaam, the enemy is ignorance. We're going after the wrong enemy." He said we need to turn our attention to the root causes of terrorism, poverty and the need for education. One of the things we could do to counter our own ignorance is to "try to remain sensitive to the phrase over there." So much of what passes for news encompasses anything in the Middle East as "over there." Any bad thing is "over there."

An important piece about Afghani politics: the Taliban are thugs and gangsters who want payback. They don't really care whether girls are learning. This surfaced in the book about one of the fatwas put on Greg's head: the local gangster just wanted some kickback.

While David keeps himself out of the book, in the beginning, he does chronicle his first hairy helicopter ride piloted by Brigadier General Bhangoo, who had been Pakistan President Musharraf's personal pilot. He told us that sadly, General Bhangoo had died in a plane crash several months before this October talk. The man was flying an ultralight around K2, intending to fly it around the world.

Other tidbits: David's main translator was Ghulam Parvi, a "personal repository of Balti culture." Freaky moment: ibex head in the helicoptor. If I remember right, it was someone's illicit dinner. Ibex are protected, but, um, General Bhangoo had his connections.

The teachers in the schools are graduates of the schools. They have an equivalent of a 5th or 6th grade education, but that is what the villages need. They then get teacher training workshops during the summers. The 2005 earthquake zones "are still a nightmare." CAI dropped tents at the sites of the schools that crumbled. If someone wishes to sponsor one school, David told us, CAI asks for $50,000. That's $25,000 to build it, and $25,000 to keep it running and in supplies for a decade.

I thought this summed up the wise simplicity of the people that Mortenson grew to love:

No human, nor any living thing, survives long under the eternal sky. The most beautiful women, the most learned men, even Mohammed, who heard Allah's own voice, all did wither and die. All is temporary. The sky outlives everything. Even suffering. ~Bowa Johar, Balti poet, and grandfather of Mauzafer Ali.

[Debbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish goodreads had a 10-star rating for this book. Anyone who has ever wanted to make a difference, anyone who has ever dreamed the impossible dream of a diverse world living together in peaceful coexistence, anyone who has ever feared their own small voice was too small a drop in the bucket to matter -- MUST read this book, and then share it and its message with everyone you know. (NOTE: buy through the link at http://www.threecupsoftea.com/Intro.php, and you will be sending 7% of the cost back to this amazing charity.) The book is fascinating, inspirational and informative on so many levels -- exciting action story, moving human drama, exotic travelogue, social action miracle, bird's eye view of contemporary history in the making in the world's most complex and volatile region, a revelation of the tenaciousness and power of the human spirit under the most destructive conditions. For the first time, I have a basic understanding of the roots of conflicts in central Asia, and how the very land and landscape (and their role in outside powers' self-serving political decisions) have helped to shape today's Pakistan and Afghanistan (enough of a reason right there to read this book). But the real MIRACLE of this book is that this is all done through the mind-boggling true story of one man's miraculous mission, and seen at ground level through the eyes and souls of those who call these lands home, in such a way that these foreign places and people feel as intimate as sisters and brothers -- which, in fact, as this story makes clear, they are. The book follows GREG MORTENSON (who has my vote, along with many others', for the next Nobel Peace Prize) from his unexpected life-saving encounter with the hospitality and generosity of a remote village in Baltistan (northern Pakistan) through his fulfillment of a grateful promise to come back and build a school for this tiny, poor community -- and on through the unfolding of an incredible mission (so incredible you can hardly believe it's nonfiction) to bring nonsectarian education and basic humanitarian aid to tiny villages throughout remote, war-torn and povertry-stricken areas throughout northern Pakistan and, eventually, Afghanistan. If for no other reason, please, PLEASE, read this book for its empowering message of the earth-shaping, history-altering power that begins with a SINGLE PERSON (you, me!) -- but can leverage the hearts and hands of millions to move mountains toward a common good. I have read dozens of eloquent pleas for and dreams of world peace -- but NEVER have I read so shockingly concrete a story of planting its actual seeds -- never have I been so moved to feel global peace can actually be more than mere dream.

[W]

I was browsing in an old bookshop when I noticed this book.Young Pakistani girls with books in their hands.I bought it and I read it in a single sitting.

I found it very interesting because it was about Pakistan and places I knew.At first glance,
the story was so uplifting and heartwarming.The book was full of good deeds and selfless humanitarianism.

I had never heard of or read about Greg Mortensen.Pakistani media had certainly not mentioned him.But it seemed that he was quite a big deal in the US.

He had been given a million dollars by a Himalaya enthusiast to start the Central Asia Institute in Pakistan and Afghanistan.(Pakistan,by the way,is in South Asia).

After that,Mortensen had started collecting donations from the US public for building schools here,and it seems the public gave generously.

He then published Three Cups of Tea and promoted it massively.The book rocketed to the top of the bestseller lists.The fund raising drive seemed unstoppable.

The storytelling seemed pretty compelling too.The way he built his first school,collecting basic materials from Rawalpindi and took them by truck to a remote Balti village,to honour his promise to the village headman that he would build his village a school.

Then,other villages heard about it.They made similar requests and Mortensen made it his life's mission to help them all.

There is also a story about how Mortensen got kidnapped while touring a remote area to build a school.That would lead to controversy later,if it was a true story.

In the final chapters,Mortensen would go to the inhosopitable,icy wilderness of Wakhan in Afghanistan.Survival is difficult but Mortensen's and the tribesmen's determination to build a school there,triumphs against the odds as well.Before the headman dies,they'd present him with a finished school.It's such a feel good story.

Along the way,he would surmount so many challenges and find good people to help him with money and good intentions.Greg Mortensen became a hero to me !

Unfortunately,outside this book,this story did not have a happy ending.

What transpired later was very unpleasant.Events in the book were alleged to be fabrications,Mortensen was alleged to have embezzled lots of money and the book's co-author committed suicide !

I haven't given this book any rating.I really liked it at first,I hated it later,especially when I read about the suicide of the co-author,David Oliver Relin.This book also made me feel very skeptical of do gooders.

Another similar name that comes to mind is that of Malala Yousafzai,who has also minted money in the name of girls' education in Pakistan.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some books I really enjoy reviewing. They’re either important, enjoyable, well-written, or some combination thereof. There are a few others I read (or start to read) that simply aren’t worth the effort of discussing at all. In a third group are books that bother me by triggering one of my pet peeves: Some may be well-written fiction, with great characters, but the author’s clear purpose is to push some kind of agenda. Others exploit children (especially disabled children) as a means of manipulating cheap emotions. Then there are books that needn’t be well-written at all but have been given some mysterious boost by the publishing world and soar to far greater acclaim than is justified by their own merits.

Three Cups of Tea is in the latter bunch. It was given to me as a gift last Christmas, and because of the subject I was eager to get into it, despite the fact that Greg Mortenson had relied on a “real” writer to interview him and pull his story together (generally not a good sign, the quality of prose being inversely proportional to the number of co-authors). I was starting to bog down with the mediocre writing that several other reviewers have noticed, but then it was announced that the author was actually coming to speak in an auditorium at my place of employment. Re-motivated, I tried again to make headway in the book, and got as far as the point where our doughty hero returns to Pakistan with funds to start building a school. On the big night, I headed over to the auditorium about half an hour early, only to discover the place had been filled to capacity for a long time. The street outside was still jammed with cars, circling in search of parking spots that weren’t there, and the security guard was warning people that they’d never get in. Turns out, the local NPR affiliate had announced the event, and somehow this particular writer generated enthusiasm like I’ve never seen before. (And I’ve been to hear quite a few prominent literary figures speak or read.)

Why the big deal? It couldn’t be the quality of the writing, which is just passable at best. (I like a reviewer’s comment that “if you actually can finish this blather, it will be as if you climbed a mountain. A long, boring mountain.”) The clue to the excitement, I guess, is on the jacket copy and in the subtitle. This may well not have been Greg Mortenson’s original thought at all. As far as I know, he was motivated only by a laudable desire to do good. (That by the way is another problem with the book: His motivations are never really explored. He’s treated as some kind of icon.) Apparently he did indeed do something remarkable, and that should be commended. But the packaging of his book suggests to me that the opinion shapers are really saying that if we only built more schools in impoverished countries as he did, and generally gave more in foreign aid, lunatics from that part of the world wouldn’t hijack airplanes and fly them into our buildings. Again, I’m inclined to believe Mortenson wasn’t thinking this way at the time, but I see he now has a blog post entitled “It Takes a School, Not Missiles.” So apparently he’s going along with the theme that is working so well.

When I was unable to get into the auditorium that night, my copy of the book went back onto my table. Several months have passed, and I’ve felt no desire to pick it up again. In fact, I just got rid of it. But unfortunately, the important thing about it is that it isn’t really a book at all, now. It became a sort of political phenomenon around a book. And that’s something altogether different. With all the copies out there, I wonder how many people actually read more of it than I did.

UPDATED to add this bit of news because, of all the book reviews I've posted, only this one has inspired people to flame me with comments. As the comments are borderline ad hominem attacks, as opposed to any kind of argument about the book's merits, as a book, I always promptly delete them. Everyone is entitled to beliefs, political and otherwise. When I write here, it's primarily about literary merit. I found little of that, and now, apparently, there's another reason to question the value of this thing.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this I was left inspired by Greg Mortenson's determination and endurance.

As a mountaineer, he was trained at focused effort, but I would submit that building schools for girls in conservative Muslim Pakistan and Afghanistan was a higher summit than he ever attempted. The later chapters are especially compelling as he was one of the rare voices of peace after 9/11 and he caught some friction for his work from a very hawkish American public.

This is written in a workmanlike, journalistic style; not great literature, but a great story. Reminds me again what a difference one man can make - like Muhammed Yunnis and Bill Couch at Right Roads and hundreds more people working hard to do some good every day.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to put it in my bag unmolested for a few days before I mustered up enough desire to finish it. As a matter of fact, its edition is intended for young readers. However, I swerved off after having watched the report of 60 Minutes by CBS News about the author’s credibility on Youtube in 2011. According to the news, the book contained fabrications and he mismanaged Central Asia Institute, the charity he co-founded. In an interview with author John Krauker, he said that it is a beautiful story, and it's a lie. He also added that a companion on the 1993 attempt to climb K2 refuted Mortenson's account that people in the remote Pakistani village of Korphe nursed him back to health. The reports also accused Mortenson of using the charity to enrich himself and promote his books without sharing the royalties or speaking fees.( for more information, see the news here http://www.cbsnews.com/news/three-cup...)

In the end, while trying to finish it and despite the author’s credibility in question, I thought that, somehow, the book has a message each and every one of us should be aware of: All children elsewhere have the right to acquire decent education.

I had seen its original book several times in a second-hand book store. However, I just ignored it because I was not interested in such genre yet at that time. Besides, as I have always crowed to the world, I don’t want to buy a tattered book any more. It just happened that I stumbled on its new and childish edition.

As I started reading it, I began to mutter under my breath regretting why I did not dare reading it before since there were paperbacks aplenty. I was touched to read Greg Monterson’s humble life story , on how he began to realize that there was something he could do more than climbing the second highest mountain in the world, K2. Back in America, he worked his butt off to ante up enough fund to make his promise come true. Fortunately, he made it. Despite all the trepidation, he never gave up on his calling.

Since the book is for young readers, obviously, it is light, not that much heavily detailed as the original although I have this feeling that I want to know the story more- in detail. I guess the author may have selected only some important parts paralleling with a young reader’s comprehension level.

After reading it, I forgot the controversy about Greg. I don’t mind it anymore except the messages he wants to tell the world: Education is a human right. Besides, I will still give his two books a try such as his original Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace One School At A Time and Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the other hand, it occurred to me that corruption is indeed a big temptation to a person who has been deprived of poverty unless that person grows in a home where love is taught as the most powerful element in the world.

In January of this year, Greg Mortenson retired from Central Asia Institute, the charity he managed for nine years. He is now 58 years old . He can now spend more quality time with his family, but for sure he cannot escape the specter of the weathering controversy he has been facing .

Meanwhile, here are the catchphrases I want to dwell in my mind when Haji Ali spoke to Monterson:

“If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways. The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die. Doctor Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated but we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.’ That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life. We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly…Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them.”

[Stacey B]

I read this a few weeks ago solely based on the book's synopsis, feeling it's theme and subject was apropos to what is happening today on college campuses, high schools, and the like.
Today while perusing my books, I saw a review that made me cringe, but at the same time reserved judgement until I could check the accuracy and validity of of the subject.
To be disappointed is the least of it.
For me it's about greed. See one of the articles below.

The American Institute of Philanthropy
(AIP) was ahead of the curve in warning donors that the finances of Central Asia Institute (CAI), a charity known for building schools and funding girls' education in Afghanistan and Pakistan, did not match the heroic image of its founder and CEO, Greg Mortenson.
A New York Times bestselling author for his books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, Mortenson was exposed by AIP in early 2010 for intertwining his personal business interests with those of CAI by using charity funds to pay for book promotion and lecture tour expenses. AIP later contributed to a 60 Minutes investigation that revealed additional evidence of financial impropriety and lack of accountability at the charity, and that also exposed Mortenson for fictionalizing many of the inspiring stories in his supposedly non-fiction books. CAI is now under inquiry by the Montana Attorney General and Mortenson is being sued by angry book buyers and donors.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time sold millions of copies. The book was co-authored by Greg Mortenson and promoted as a non-fictional retelling of how he came to know the people in the small village of Korphe, Pakistan and promised to build them a school. According to a synopsis on the book's web site, "Alone, without food, water, or shelter," Mortenson, exhausted and disoriented after a failed attempt to climb the world's second tallest mountain, "stumbled into an impoverished Pakistani village where he was nursed back to health…the village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher." After observing the village's school-age children outside, "scratching their lessons in the dirt with sticks," Mortenson was inspired to help and promised to return to help build a school. In the book Mortenson also recounts the nightmare of being kidnapped for eight days by the Taliban before finally convincing them to free him after they learned of his efforts to build schools.

An in-depth investigation by the news program 60 Minutes earlier this year revealed a much different picture of Mortenson and Central Asia Institute than the one portrayed in Mortenson's books. The charity's 2009 tax form provided a list of schools CAI claimed to have built in central Asia. 60 Minutes sent investigators to the region to survey nearly thirty schools. It found that while some of the schools existed and were performing well, roughly half of them were empty, built by somebody else, or not receiving funding from CAI. One official said his school had not received any support from the charity for things like supplies or teachers' salaries in years. Some schools were being used by locals as storage facilities for things like spinach or hay.

In his books Mortenson claims to have been kidnapped and held for eight days by the Taliban during a trip to Pakistan in 1996. Experts on central Asia report that at that time there were not yet any Taliban in that region of Pakistan. In addition, 60 Minutes obtained a photograph of Greg Mortenson holding an assault rifle, smiling and commiserating with the very people he had accused in his books of being his Taliban captors. The news program was able to track down two of the men in the photos and two others who were present when the photos were taken, all of whom deny being Taliban. It turns out that one of the men is actually an internationally renowned scholar.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greg Mortenson is a remarkable man. Product of Minnesota parents who were both athletes and then missionaries, he spent much of his childhood in Tanzania. A high-end climber he was on his way back from an unsuccessful attempt at K2, 30 pounds lighter than he had been before the attempt, when, exhausted and lost, he wound up in the remote village of Korphe. Saved from an icy demise, Mortenson recovered. When the locals showed him their village he noticed that the children had no school. They studied in an open area and were visited by a teacher who was shared with another village. Thus was born Mortenson’s life work. He would dedicate himself to bringing schools, and ultimately much more, to remote rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Three Cups of Tea tells Mortenson’s tale, a sort of coming of age for a philanthropist. But Mortenson was not so much a donator of funds. In fact, he had almost no financial resources of his own. But his single-mindedness led him to find others willing to provide money for this work. Mortenson was the man in the field, making connections with local leaders, negotiating political mazes, buying wood, concrete, nails and seeing that it was all put to the proper uses. His focus became one of trying to see that girls got educated, as they tended to be ignored when education was discussed in this part of the world. He learned that girls tended to provide a more substantial bang-for-the buck in terms of improving life in a place when they were educated than was the case when only boys got to go to school.

Mortenson’s is an uplifting story. He is clearly a card-carrying member of a class of people we might call secular saints. Although his upbringing was religious, he does not push any sort of religion on those he helps and empowers. It is not even clear from this book if he subscribes to any religion in particular.

It does raise a question however. What happens if we run out of Mortensons? Can development of this sort continue or spring into existence at all should Greg Mortenson or others of his sort are not present to make certain that good things happen? Mortenson formed the Central Asia Institute as an agency to help make the work more than his personal mission. Time will tell if it can continue his work when he is no longer available.

Three cups of Tea offers a very detailed look at what it takes to get things done in a part of the world that has received a lot more western ordnance than western development aid. There are complexities to complexities here and there is no substitute for developmental boots on the ground, interacting with local communities if the West ever wants to have any chance of turning potential enemies into potential friends.

No one work can provide a complete picture of any region. Three Cups of Tea is a must-read for anyone interested in developments in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the central and south Asian region. Like a Seurat painting in which the dots combine to make a coherent image, Mortenson has offered another very meaningful dot that can combine with others to offer a rich view of the whole area.

[Malbadeen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Greg Mortisen this, Greg Mortisen that, Dr. Greg this, Dr. Greg that blah, blah, blah. This book was such a glowing endorsment for the person Greg Mortisen that I had a hard time taking in the story of what he did, because quite frankly I was getting sick of him. Which isn't necessarly fair because he wasn't telling the story so I'm not saying he's narsacistic or anything but the person telling it could have toned it down a notch or two and let us come to our conclusion, and no doubt we would have, that Greg Mortisen is a super great guy for what he did. About 2/3 of the way through I thought "oh my gosh, this sounds more like a plea for Greg Mortisen to get the nobel peace prize" than an actual book and sure enough a few chapters later they were talking about how deserving of the nobel peace prize he is. and i might agree but by the time the book was over i was feeling like, "hey, some of us get lost in Pakistan while cllimbing mountains and then return to build schools for impoverished girls that would otherwise have no future and some of us totaly always give their spare change to whatever cancer drive their doing at the grocery store. we all do something". I think i would have been more inclined to enjoy Morisen's story in a magazine article than in this extended 368 page tribute to him.

[Meredith Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such an important story . . . so distracted by the writing. The sun is not "lemony." I hope that Balti porters are not in any way like "Lear's jester." I listened to half of it on audio because I was so distracted by the way it was written, but the reader did voices and accents for everyone. Then when I picked it back up to read, all I could hear in my head for the voices were Abu from the Simpsons.

"After they'd traveled half a kilometer, he saw the firefight resume. The widely spaced streams of tracers leaped across the road like ellipses. But to Mortenson, who wouldn't learn his friends had survived until the following week, when he returned to Kabul, they looked more like question marks" (p. 325). In my book, the one way to neuter a good firefight is to compare it to punctuation. Don't get me wrong, I think it's absolutely sexy to be able to name all English forms of punctuation in under a minute, but tracers are not like question marks.

It is a tribute to the story itself that it is important enough to still make the read worth it. And, as Tracey Coleman said, "Tara Mortenson is a saint".

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feel-good, mandatory read for anyone interested in children, the future and in current events. My check to CAI will be in the mail soon- It makes you want to get involved.

The story of one incredible man's love for mountain climbing, that leads to the adventure of a lifetime.

Working to build schools for villages in the remote corners of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson shines as an example that even one person can make huge difference to world. He may be a future Nobel Peace Prize winner and he is undoubtedly a real-live hero.

After reading, I understand more about the nature of middle East interests and of the importance of education for those who desire to learn.


For more information about the book and the Central Asia Institute:
http://www.ikat.org/


Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Publisher: Penguin Books
Copyright: 2006
Genre: Current events
Pages: 338
Date Read- 4/27/08 - 4/29/08


NOTES
____________
p. 47
"Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart. Never give up, never lose hope. Allah says. 'the broken ones are my beloved.' -S.Kheir

p.68
Intellectually, the word "Muslim' means, literally, "to submit." An like many Americans who worship at the temple of "rugged individualism", he (Mortenson) had found the idea dehumanizing. But for the first time, knelling among a hundered strangers, watching them wash away...the aches and cares of their daily lives, he glimpsed the pleasure to be found in submission to a ritualized fellowship of prayer.

p. 125
There is a candle in your heart ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don't you. - Rumi

p. 129
I was just an enthusiastic mountaineer of modest abilities who was willing to work quite hard and had the necessary imagination and determination. I was just an average bloke. It was the media that tried to transform me into a heroic figure. But I've learned through the years, as long as you don't believe all that rubbish about yourself, you can't come to too much harm."

p.150
Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I'ver ever learned in my life, " Mortnson says. "We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We're the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills. Our leaders thought their 'shock and awe' campaign could end the was in Iraq before it ever started. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach."

p.225
Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.
-Mother Theresa

p.257
I wish that all Americans who think 'Muslim' is just another way of saying 'terrorist' could have been there that day (The school was opened.) The true core tenants of Islam are justice, tolerance and charity, and Syed Abbas represented the moderate center of Muslim faith eloquently.

p. 280
"Get out and tell Americans what you know about Muslims. You represent the goodness and courage that America is all about. Get out, don't be afraid, and spread your message for peace. Make this your finest hour."

p. 297
'The Enemy is Ignorance'

p.301
If we try to solve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will be ultimately won with books, not with bombs."

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 'book sharing' buddy loaned this book to me and it just sat on my shelf. She said it was an amazing true story which lead her to staying up way past bed times reading. It was only when she asked for the loaner book back that I cracked it open. Next I knew, I was hooked too. It was a long week at work, but worth it.

Anyhow, definitely read this book! It is an amazing story of Greg Mortenson's work in Pakistan building school. "Yeah, Yeah. Rich America throwing their weight and money around. I've heard that before." you think. NOPE. Not how it unfolds. His intentions are solid gold and his pockets are all but empty when he starts... he barely makes enough to afford a decent life in the US.

I LOVED:
- The lessons he learns from the elders he met along the way. It was a great sociology lesson about cultures.

- That he figured out the 'game' of getting it done under the political climates of Pakistan and the US.

- That just his actions were so impressive to the locals that he became somewhat famous... thought he didn't act that way.

- That each who join his 'team' has something to contribute. But they all share the dream of making the kids lives better with education.

[Doug Bradshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much of Greg's work is valid still, but when I hear a lot of it is fiction and that he has been raiding the charity, I want to send him permanently to Afghanistan to run one of the schools. Here's my original review which I gave five stars:

This book affected the way I think about other cultures and the relationship the United States has with them. The writing was fun and well done, sometimes a bit too many adjectives and flowery descriptions were thrown in to make sure we didn't bored, and plenty of time was taken to point out that Greg is a bit of a loner, a bit odd, not really much of a businessman, and sometimes inefficient. Here are the things I found very helpful, eye opening and excellent:

1. The US has exercised its military might to fight off terrorism and extremism that is directed toward the US, Great Britain and Israel. But what we learn very quickly from Greg's book is that the military solution will only take us so far and that we need to follow up with solutions to help and educate the people in these backward societies. And it's not just throwing money at the problem. Greg has done what it takes to get things done properly by lovingly getting to know the people one on one and then through years of work and thrift and effort has built up the relationships, built schools, bridges, helped provide clean water sources, etc. The people know Greg, trust him, love him and give Americans a good name.

2. I think it has been very wise of Greg to keep "Christian" teachings and religion out of the formula. In fact, much of what he has tried to do would not have happened if he were trying to push Christian ideals in the schools. The schools teach the very basics, from math and writing, to good hygiene and science.

3. Not only do the people love Greg, but Greg loves the people. Perhaps this is the most time consuming and difficult lesson to be translated to the normal American, that these people are good, hard working, lovable people. Obviously, some of the leaders and businessmen are cutthroat and greedy. Our prisons in the US are full of such people. But the core values of the Muslims are good and the people, once they trust and know someone, are loyal and full of integrity. It's worth the effort to get out there and help them, which gets me to the next idea in the book

4. If we don't get out there one on one and help with our money building schools for appropriate education, water systems, sewer systems, etc., there will be money flowing in from anti american organizations to do the same thing but with an emphasis on educating the people to hate the West and new terrorists will emerge and we'll be in the same rut we're in.

5. I loved Greg's hugely efficient and thrifty ways. The first nice school was built for $12,000. How many American's could afford to build one school? Thousands of people. The one on one effort with the people to get these projects done for an affordable price with their participation is unbelievably more efficient and effective than what we've tried to do in Iraq. And because the people are so involved, the school is a thing of pride for them and their children love going and the education immediately begins to change there lives in amazing ways.

[Bharath · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I started reading the book, I was unaware of the controversies surrounding it. This was recommended by a friend.

The book strikes the right notes as far as the central cause is concerned - educate children for a better tomorrow. There really is no other way. Greg takes this up in the hilly regions of Pakistan which he visits during his attempt to scale mount K2. His approach of respecting local culture and taking the locals into confidence and building the schools with their full participation is a credible approach. Greg has taken up a noble cause in an especially difficult part of the world where extremism is rampant and child (especially girls) education is an urgent need.

The book however disappoints in several aspects. The blatant self promotion is very evident and also extremely irritating. In fact that is what prompted me to later search for any news surrounding the book and the authors. There is an excessive obsession in building real estate (the physical building) with very little space devoted to quality of education, teachers etc though they do find limited mention. With the accuracy of many of the events in the book now being questioned, I am not sure to what extent the book version can be trusted.

Nevertheless, despite the controversies the subject is an important one..

[Britany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greg Mortenson has an incredible story, one that was documented and shared in this book. He attempted to climb the Himalayas' K2 and ended up in a poor Pakistani town Korphe to recover. He decided to build a school and started working with the local communities to teach and advocate for them.
A story worthy of being called a humanitarian hero, but one which has some hair stuck to it. He was burned for fabricating some of the details sourced in this book and misappropriating funds from the Central Asia Institute of which he was the executive director. All of this led the co-writer, who struggled with depression to commit suicide. I'm saddened by all the negative news as this seemed like such a positive story shedding light in a dark time. I appreciate Greg's efforts and his incredible, although possibly inaccurate story. For me, this one just didn't grab me enough to leave a deep mark, but was a journey I appreciated while remembering a good dose of reality never hurt anyone.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greg Mortenson was a mountaineer with his sights set on Pakistan’s unforgiving K2 when a disaster in his climbing party forced him to abort his attempt on the summit. On his way down, the exhausted climber got lost and wandered into a remote and impoverished village that had never seen a Westerner before.

As the kind residents helped Mortenson regain his strength, he committed to repaying them by building a school for the dozens of children he saw carving their lessons into the dirt with sticks. That promise would go on to transform Mortenson from a part-time nurse and climbing nut to a man obsessed with bringing education to some of the world’s most neglected people.

The story of how Mortenson managed to fulfill his naïve promise and go on not just to build one school, but dozens more across the remote mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, is nothing short of astounding. The fact that he survived this hostile environment at all, let alone succeeded in a humanitarian endeavor of such enormous proportions, is truly inspiring.

Part of what permitted Mortenson to make so much progress is that he allowed himself to learn how things needed to be done from the local people. Though American, Mortenson was raised by missionaries in Africa, and his sensitivity towards and ability to integrate into another culture was a crucial part of what made this project work.

In addition to providing valuable insight into the lives of a people the West knows little about, this book also offers a unique perspective of the events in Pakistan and Afghanistan that led to the current war on terror. Mortenson began building his small schools at the same time fundamentalist madrassas were also springing up in that part of the world. Though Mortenson couldn’t compete with either the pace or the money spent by those with a religious agenda, his success provides a powerful model for filling the gaps that the US military has left wide open in those vulnerable places.

I would recommend this amazing and educational book to pretty much anyone, but I do have to add one caveat. Though I was very moved by the story, I did not like the writing so much. The author and I seemed to have different pacing—he spent long passages talking about things of little interest to me while barely touching on aspects I wanted to know much more about. I was also put off by the book’s opening, which was a pumped up mix of macho adventure writing and fawning hero worship. Mortenson’s story is so extraordinary it doesn’t need this kind of inflation. While the author’s admiration for Mortenson is understandable, I would have enjoyed this book more without this kind of embellishment.

[Laura V. لاورا · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi associo a quei commenti che distinguono tra la vicenda umana di cui si racconta, straordinaria e ammirevole, e il libro così come è stato scritto, poco appassionante e in molti punti decisamente noioso nonostante un inizio molto promettente.
Anche qualche capitolo finale è stato interessante, in particolare dove si parla del Pakistan all'indomani dell'11 settembre, ma per il resto, mi spiace ammetterlo, stavo proprio contando le pagine per metterlo da parte...
Segnalo, inoltre, una grossolana inesattezza che almeno chi ha controllato il manoscritto prima della pubblicazione avrebbe dovuto correggere: si afferma che i musulmani pregano rivolti verso la Mecca dove è sepolto il Profeta. In realtà, da morto, Maometto alla Mecca non si è mai visto dal momento che morì e venne sepolto a Medina. Inoltre, quando si parla del wahhabismo, l'ideologia di stato dell'Arabia Saudita, non si fa cenno a quelle che sono le sue origini storiche, riconducendo il tutto a una ingenua questione terminologica.
Comunque, ribadisco, quello di Greg Mortenson è uno straordinario esempio di impegno a favore della pace e del dialogo tra i popoli e, invece che esportare la democrazia in casa d'altri a suon di bombe, otterremmo molto di più diffondendo istruzione, l'unico vero strumento che con il tempo possa sconfiggere ignoranza, fanatismo ed estremismo, religioso o pseudoreligioso.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. Sometimes books such as these, howbeit inspiring, are often tedious to read. This one was not. I was fascinated.

After a failed attempt to climb K2, Greg Mortensen is separated from his guide and wanders into a small Pakistani village he otherwise would have never known existed. The friendships he made altered the course of his life. He promised to build them a school after seeing the teacherless village children writing school assignments in the dirt with sticks.

After the first school, his work took on a life of it's own as he gained the trust of the people in other villages bringing as many schools as he possibly could to some of the poorest places in the country.

This man probably knows more about the hearts and minds of the people in Pakistan and Afganistan than any expert in Washington. This is not a political book; however, I was left thinking we've missed the mark in how we can protect our country from terrorism. Greg seems to have the keys--respect, hard work, love, keeping our promises and education.

I would like to be as passionate and brave as this man; or, at the very least, as loving and supportive as his wife.