Sunday, February 24, 2008

Book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace..One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Viking, Penguin 2006-2007)


Greg Mortenson had a passion for climbing. Something went wrong at the end of an attempted climb on K2 in 1993 -- or perhaps, something went right -- because while weak and disoriented, he met remote villagers in the Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan who nursed him back to strength, and Greg decided to repay them for their kindness and address a critical needs by raising money and returning to build their first school building, and began a truly heroic cross-cultural adventure spanning California, Montana, Pakistan, Afghanistan. In the course of the last 15 years, he has directly changed the lives on hundreds of young women, and indirectly changed the perception of America in scores of remote villages and towns of Central Asia.

"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." - Journalist and Author Tom Brokaw.

Highly recommended.