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Summary: just read it!
Comment: This story is so important that I urge everyone I know to read this book. However, I also hand it to them with the caveat, "Just read it, even though the writing is clunky and amateurish at times." Once I got through it, gritting my teeth through some of the less elegant passages, I felt so happy to know Greg Mortensen and the amazing mission he is on. It is an unforgetable story. It is eye-opening and humbling and a much needed antidote to the narrow media portrayal of the people, politics and culture that Greg is spending his life to uplift. I only wish the writing served the sensitivity and urgency of the subject better. However...
So, I'll say it again, Please, just read the book, for the story, if not for the telling.
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Summary: One Person Can Make a Difference
Comment: "Three Cups of Tea" is the extraordinary story of how one American, Greg Mortension, fought terrorism through education. Business is conducted by drinking three cups of tea in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Mortenson, an experienced mountain climber, acknowledges defeat in his attempt to reach the peak of the K2 Mountain. Mortenson had planned to leave his younger sister Christa's necklace at the top of the peak in her memory. His sister had contracted meningitis as a young girl and never fully recovered.
The Korphe villagers take care of Mortenson as he is exhausted and ill. The Balti custom is that it is unforgivable to not extend hospitality.
The Korphe village does not have a school and Motneson witnesses the Korphe children learning while sitting on frosty ground in the open. Mortenson states "I felt like my heart was being torn out. There was fierceness in their desire to learn, despite how mightily everything was staked against them, that reminded me of Christa. I knew I had to do something." Over the next twelve years Mortenson was responsible for building 55 schools, primarily for girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The authors were Greg Mortenson, Director of the Central Asia Institute, former mountain climber and military veteran and David Oliver Relin, a journalist. Relin has won more than forty national awards for his writing and editing and is a frequent contributor to Parade and Skiing Magazine.
Mortenson began to make progress on his first school only after his personal life and initial fund raising efforts bottom out. He continued to hold on to his dream back in the United States when all but one of his 580 fund raising letters is rejected. Tom Brokaw was the only individual to return a letter with a contribution. Hortenson and Brokaw are both alumni of the University of South Dakota
Through an article in the American Himalayan Foundation newsletter, Dr. Jean Hoerni, an eccentric wealthy physicist and mountain climber learns of Mortenson's efforts. Hoerni took a chance and funded the first school. Hoerni had witnessed as a mountain climber the disparity between the beauty of the mountains and the harsh life of the people in the Karakorum.
Mortenson's drive and determination surmount cultural and language differences, regional politics, dangerous terrain, eight days of captivity and the Taliban.
I would recommend the book to all who believe that one ordinary person can not make a difference.
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Summary: What an amazing Human!
Comment: This is an amazing book. Wow! I wish this book was required reading four our high school students. Actually I wish everyone that lives in the U.S. would read this. It will help people put into perspective a huge chunk of information left out about northern Pakistan and the US current wars. You will be enraged about the money our government wastes on war and their failure to understand other cultures around the world.
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Summary: Earth-shattering
Comment: After a friend loaned me this book, I couldn't put it down. I realized how much I didn't understand about our war on terror and it made me very sad. There is no question remaining in my mind, nor will there be in yours once you read this book, what we need to do to bring peace to both our countries; education. As a female brought up in a home where higher education was not very well cherished, I am especially saddened to know there are so many bright minds awaiting to absorb anything they can, to pull themselves up into a better life, for themselves and their families.
Greg Mortenson has to be a superhero, as is his family. I don't think I have ever been so inspired, so moved. It's amazing that time and again throughout history education IS the answer. Why is this such a troubling concept to grasp among some our world leaders? Read the book and understand why I call it Earth-shattering.
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Summary: One right answer. . . .
Comment: Once again my colleagues made a fantastic recommendation for a yearend reading gift for my CEO group.
After reading Mortenson's book, I felt as though I must be the only person in the world not aware of the work he has been doing. How did I miss it?
Failing to make it to the top of K2, getting lost on the way down, and being rescued by a Pakistani man was the serendipity found only in the stuff of fairy tales; yet it happened and certainly the world is a better place for it.
It seems to me that Mortenson has single-handedly put the lie to the ugly American by taking care to learn the customs, language and needs of the people he chose to serve. The many bureaucratic roadblocks, political sidetracks, lack of funds and weather delays did not keep Mortenson from moving forward with his pledge to build a school. And then another. And then a couple more until now 100's have been provided.
"Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea," said Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan. "The first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything - even die." Mortenson became family to many of the far-flung village people in Pakistan and now Afghanistan. As he has demonstrated that he would risk his life for them, they in turn have shown a willingness to protect him and guide him through the challenges of trying to help those for whom few are willing to speak.
This book is a compelling read and difficult to put down. It is both an adventure story and a testament to the good that a determined compassionate person can accomplish with the right amount of love and determination. It shows, in a non-partisan way, the path we must take to work for peace and marginalize the extremists on all sides of the discontent and modern terrorist story. This is a must read book for anyone interested in understanding what is going on in the global community today.
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