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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
While critics agree that Three Cups of Tea should be read for its inspirational value rather than for its literary merit, the book's central theme, derived from a Baltistan proverb, rings loud and clear. "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger," a villager tells Greg Mortenson. "The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time you become family." An inspirational story of one man's efforts to address poverty, educate girls, and overcome cultural divides, Three Cups, which won the 2007 Kiriyama Prize for nonfiction, reveals the enormous obstacles inherent in becoming such "family." Despite the important message, critics quibbled over the awkward prose and some melodrama. After all, a story as dramatic and satisfying as this should tell itself.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From AudioFile
Lost after failing to climb K2, Mortenson was sheltered and nursed in a remote Pakistani village; he promised to return and build them a school. Keeping that promise led to his heading a charitable institute that provides impoverished children in Pakistan and Afghanistan with an education. Though Relin's writing is not top-caliber, Mortenson's story comes through as exciting and inspiring. Patrick Lawlor's voice is neither melodious nor distinguished, but it is likable and serviceable. He tells the story as if Mortenson had told it to him, keeping it lively and engaging. His imitation of voices and accents, loosely rather than precisely mimetic, fits his style. It all works; listeners will begrudge interruptions. W.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

"Three Cups of Me"
This book should have been called: "Three Cups of Me: The Auto-Hagiography of a Modern Day Secular Saint & Savior"

Three Cups of Tea is an over-rated book, with a definite political agenda, about an obsessed, but capricious man who does very good things for little brown girls, far, far away. He is the "white savior" found in popular American TV programs of yore, such as "The White Shadow", "Welcome Back Cotter", and "Different Strokes", to name but a few.

The author and hero, er, I mean "saint", Greg Mortenson, and his co-author, David Relin, waste no in time establishing his (Greg's) bona fides liberal credentials. Although he was born with three of the greatest original sins - i.e., being white, American, and male, he quickly demonstrates how he has been purified by penance and how he has made amends for those transgressions against humanity. We learn that he is 1) a multiculturalist 2) a multi-linguist 3) an admirer of Che Guevara and Bill Clinton 4) a disdainer of Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush 5) that he eschews financial security and the creation of wealth 6) that he cares deeply about helping people of color, especially women of color, most especially poor, foreign young girls of color 7) that he cares deeply about "saving the planet" and living in tune with nature 8) that he talks freely with his severely handicapped sister about premarital sex and birth control and 9) that he is equally respectful of all religions, but moved by none. For example, he thinks nothing of bowing to Mecca five times a day, or uttering Buddhist incantations, so long as that's what the people around him are doing and want to see him do too. But he is silent on his own religious convictions, having been raised by a Lutheran pastor. This pedigree of his literally has his followers demanding his secular canonization to sainthood, commonly known as The Nobel Prize for Peace! This would place him in the pantheon of other Nobel Laureates and saints such as Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Yasser Arafat.

I must state for the record that I do indeed admire the work he has done, i.e. building schools - that is a good thing. However, he seems to view the primitive peoples of the Pakistani Himalayan Mountains, to include, since 9/11, Afghanistan, in the "noble savages" category. A school of thought popular in the mid-19th Century colonial era. For example, he avers that they need his (modern, Western) help, but at the same time he also views their culture and mores as superior to our own (being a good multiculturalist). So, he offers them just a little bit of help; enough to make himself and his financial backers feel good, but not enough to bring them out of grinding poverty, ancient tribalism, and isolation.

The help he offers, which will keep them beholden to him for everything else, is that he provides them with rudimentary, roughly hewn school houses, with poorly trained teachers and "culturally sensitive" textbooks. You may say to me, "Well, at least it's better than nothing!", and I would agree with you. However, Mr. Mortenson, or "Doctor Greg", as he likes to be called, even though he is not a doctor, is very scrupulous to make sure that their culture and way of life is not "ruined" by the introduction of indoor plumbing, heating, and ventilation, or electricity, or television, or automobiles, or computers, or cell phones, or modern agricultural techniques, or the rule of law, or democracy, or a myriad of other "de-humanizing" aspects of modern civilization. According to Mortenson and Relin, not only do most of those things de-humanize us, but they also require energy to power them, and thus they create pollution, and that will destroy the planet. So, it's best if they don't have those things. That's right Doctor Greg, burn Al Gore's "bridge to the 21st Century" behind you!

He displays more righteous praise for himself and disdain for the United States when he explains that he is working for peace by building schools, in places like Afghanistan, while the U.S. (George Bush) is simply dropping bombs. That claim is either purposely misleading, or willfully ignorant. Again, while building 50+ schools in the villages of the Himalaya's is a laudatory accomplishment, it is certainly dwarfed by comparison to the billions and billions of dollars the U.S. has spent in Afghanistan paving roads, putting in water and sewage treatment facilities, building electrical grids, setting up communication links, providing security forces, constructing court houses, sanitation plants, prisons, community centers, and yes, even schools - all, while dropping bombs on international terrorists! But those facts don't jibe with his messianic complex, or with his political leanings, and those of his panting disciples. Only "Doctor Greg" is doing good in Afghanistan.

This book would have been so much more enjoyable to read had Mortenson not co-written this panegyric account of his life; even though he tried, unsuccessfully, to come across as just a humble servant. He must be familiar with the axiom, "The surest bait for flattery is humility". Also, if he had avoided the minefield of left vs. right politics, in which he clearly inhabits the left lane, I would have been far more sympathetic to his cause. But he insisted on lobbing those political bombs. And what is his cause? It's teaching young Pakistani and Afghan girls (and boys) how to read, write, and do simple math (hooray!) - and then sending them back to their un-electrified mud huts, which are heated by goat dung, and continue to keep them inoculated from the evils of the First World (boo!)

And what motivates his unquenchable drive to help these people? Is it his faith in Christ, or Allah, or Buddha? No! Remember, he's a secular savior. His followers claim that world peace is his goal. He claims that he is merely trying to raise up brown-skinned, Muslim women and girls. I think he does what he does because he believes the mountain people need him, and he needs them (to need him) and it's a wonderful humanitarian, saintly, salvific - and un-breakable cycle.

An Educators Education Three Cups of Tea
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

A most amazing look at the world of Pakistani culture, schools..or lack of
and the story of a man who has chosen to do something about them.
It gives the reader insights into the the conflicts and complications
of war time in Pakistan and introduces her or him to what is really going
on over there. It is not a political view, it is a very well written
humanitarian and "heartarian" look at a brave and struggling people.

Power of One
An outstanding example of what one person can do when they pay attention to what they are being called to do. Greg Mortenson is doing more to promote world peace than any single country. I really wish I could give my tax dollars to him to build more schools.