Three Cups of Tea: Summary and book reviews of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, plus links to an excerpt from Three Cups of Tea and a biography of Greg Mortenson.
Three Cups of Tea One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by David O. Relin, Greg Mortenson
Hardcover: Mar 2006,
352 pages.
Paperback: Jan 2007,
352 pages.
In April 2011, the CBS documentary "60 Minutes" called into question Greg Mortenson's work. The program alleged inaccuracies in Three Cups of Tea and its sequel, Stones into Schools as well as financial improprieties in the operation of Mortenson's Central Asia Institute. Questions were also raised about Mortenson's claim that he got lost near K2 and ended up in Korphe; that he was captured by the Taliban in 1996; the number of schools the CAI claimed to have built and whether CAI funds had been used appropriately for Mortenson's book tours. View the broadcast. Jon Krakauer, who had supported the CAI to the tune of $75,000, also questioned Mortenson's accounts and released his allegations in a lengthy article titled Three Cups of Deceit
From the Book Jacket
The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most
dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia
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.
Three Cups of Tea is a truly inspiring story and also a very readable action-adventure! Many climbers have passed through the same areas of Pakistan as Mortenson, and made the same promises to the local people - to help them in some way or another; but the difference between Greg and so many others is that he followed through. He didn't set out to be a hero, he didn't even set out to 'make a difference' - he just set out to fulfill a promise that would have been so easy to forget. Despite the many obstacles in his way he raised the money and returned to Pakistan, but it took a further two-years, more money and many road-blocks, to build that first school. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Washington Times - Ann Geracimos
The story of how this happened is a cliffhanger as well as an first-hand introduction to the people and places of a region little understood by most Americans. The subtitle, "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time," underscores the motivation behind his work.
He attributes his inspiration to a series of accidental encounters with strangers who cared for him after failing in his original mission to lay his sister's necklace on the K2 summit. Clearly, he is a man apart. But the trained nurse, mountaineer, natural linguist and diplomat is also a thoroughly grounded one. The challenges and how he faced them are ready-made for the movies or TV.
Kirkus Reviews
Answering by delivering what his country will not, Mortenson is "fighting the war on terror the way I think it should be conducted," Relin writes. This inspiring, adventure-filled book makes that case admirably.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts.
Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia Three Cups of Tea is beautifully written. It is also a critically
important book at this time in history. The governments of Pakistan and
Afghanistan are both failing their students on a massive scale. The work
Mortenson is doing, providing the poorest students with a balanced education, is
making them much more difficult for the extremist madrassas to recruit.
Tom Brokaw Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of
our time. Greg Mortenson's dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the
wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it's
proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and
determination, really can change the world.
U.S. representative Mary Bono (R-Calif.)
Greg Mortenson represents the best of America. He's my hero. And after you read
Three Cups of Tea, he'll be your hero, too.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by bob All lies First of all, Pakistan is not one of the most dangerous places in the world, if you go to Detroit in Michigan, it is 10 times more dangerous than the entire country of Pakistan (I would know because my family is from there and I have visited many... Read More
Rated of 5
by Guje hero Perhaps the best non-fiction book I have read recently is Three cup of tea. It is a beautifully written. Same time it is also a critically important and truly remarkable tale of an inspiring account of how one man former mountaineer and military... Read More
Rated of 5
by college mom thank you Greg i found this story very inspiring. It goes to show that there are really some people in this world that really do make a difference. I read this book as a requirement for college and I really enjoyed it. It has really inspired me to stand up and... Read More
Rated of 5
by highsCOOLer 123 terrible First thing is first, if you have bought this book burn it or terminate it from your presence.
second, this is the worst book ever, I stopped reading after the first chapter. the book described every detail other than building the schools,... Read More
Rated of 5
by Average Joe Here's How to Help This was an enlightening book, no doubt. If you have read the book--or even if you haven't--and are itching to contribute in a way that does not require much sacrifice, I have a way for you:
1) Go to www.goodsearch.com, or type in Goodsearch in... Read More
Rated of 5
by SinGApORe :) Three Cups of Tea: The Young Reader’s Edition By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Adapted by Sarah Thompson Three Cups of Tea is about Greg Mortenson and how one day he was climbing K2-the world’s second highest mountain- in honor of his younger sister Christa, but things go wrong as he gets lost. Greg wanders and wanders until he came to a poor village,... Read More
The book's title comes from the advice given to Mortenson, over cups of
scalding butter tea, by the chief of the village where the first school was
built:
"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 make time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated, but we are not stupid. We have survived here for a long time."
As Mortenson says, "that day Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I've ever
learned. We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. Our leaders thought their
'shock and awe' campaign could end the war in Iraq before it even started. Haji Ali taught me to slow down and make building
relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had much more to learn from the people I work with
than I could ever hope to teach them."
Humanitarian workers define courage in the 21st century. This book gives voice to their stories, to their ability to survive
in the face of death, to their humanity to one another and to those they seek
to serve.
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
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(587 words).
Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia
of 5
by bob
of 5
by Guje
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