Customer Reviews:
 So inspiring, I recommend this to everyone! August 1, 2010
SarCol
Three Cups of Tea is truly inspiring and made me feel warm all over. :) I recommend this to everyone and I further recommend that everyone who reads it keeps its message close to heart and tight in hand.
a book everyone should read July 31, 2010
elizabeth hibbard (Salinas,,CA, USA)
This book is well-written and gives first-hand information on why we are in Afghanistan and what one person can accomplish.Educating women is important in every culture.
 Three Cups of Tea Book Review July 30, 2010
aeb
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin's book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, tells the story of Mortenson, a determined mountaineer, who attempted to climb the K2 mountains in Pakistan. After his failure, however, Mortenson winds up in the Pakistan village of Korphe and is taken in by Haji Ali, the Balti village's chief. Due to the kindness offered to him in Korphe, Mortenson promises to come back and build a school for the village. The book takes readers through Mortenson's long and difficult journey as he is challenged along the way with not only financial and cultural barriers, but also life threatening events, that try to detract him from reaching his goal of promoting peace through education.
The book uses an overly detailed style, clearly geared to an adult audience, which chronicles the journey in a more exhaustive approach than seems necessary to capture the essence of the challenge faced by Mortenson. Literary style, however, is not where this book excels, but rather in its themes and overall message. Without a doubt, Three Cups of Tea fully succeeds in inspiring readers to believe that one person, armed with perseverance, can make a difference in the world.
The authors use techniques that make it easy for readers to appreciate cultural differences. Through the recurring cultural motif of sharing tea, and the lessons surrounding it, readers are swept along as Mortenson learns that he must take the time to build relationships in order to accomplish his mission. The book also does an excellent job in bridging the gap between American and Muslim culture as a means of promoting acceptance. The descriptions of the living conditions in the remote villages are detailed and give readers a taste of the poverty, as well as everyday life, in these areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The authors also provide especially captivating discussions on Muslim customs which help to provide greater understanding of the culture. While readers can easily empathize with Mortenson, the authors, however, do not shine all the light on him. Because of the attention the authors give to introducing people in the story, readers also develop a great deal of respect for Mortenson's key supporting characters, especially those in the Muslim world. As a result, readers not only empathize with Muslims halfway around the world, but they are also left with an appreciation of the shared value, regardless of nationality or religion, placed on education and on sacrificing for future generations.
The timing of Three Cups of Tea in the post 9/11 anti-terrorism environment is ideal for presenting an argument of empowerment through education. The book effectively sends the message that Mortenson is able to succeed because there is universal agreement that good can come from educating children because education benefits the community as a whole and provides hope for a better future. The argument is strengthened by understanding that educating girls provides additional benefits because in these Muslim villages, girls stay close to home, so the community gains from the sharing of their knowledge. As a result, promoting peace by building schools comes across as a very mature, reasonable, and believable solution to counter the spread of terrorism and violent strains of Islam.
The glue that holds everything together in Three Cups of Tea is the main character, Greg Mortenson. Mortenson's personal role in the success of his mission is inescapable. The authors share enough detail of Mortenson's life that readers connect with him as an ordinary person with both strengths and weaknesses. Readers are also left easily convinced that Mortenson is doing truly good and unselfish work. Most of all, however, readers can admire his compassion, determination, perseverance, and willingness to make personal sacrifices to help others. By reinforcing the importance of building relationships, accepting others, and empowering through education, Three Cups of Tea demonstrates the power of one person and succeeds in not only encouraging, but also inspiring, others to bring about change.
Great Book July 28, 2010
Moesha
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very real and moving story. Nice to get a look at Pakistan and Afganistan from a "real" non military point of view.
Great book, for several reasons July 28, 2010
David C. Read (Glendale, CA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book on so many levels. First, it is interesting to learn about the people in these remote mountain villages in Pakistan. Second, it is touching, because you can't help pulling for Greg Mortensen to succeed against long odds, and you can't help being touched by the struggles of the people he writes about. Third, it is interesting for people who are thinking about going into independent charitable, relief, or religious work full time. This book will teach you alot about how to do this type of work.
Some of the lessons for folks who want to get involved are: (1) You have to work with the people on the ground, doing what they want done and will allow to be done. You can't swoop down and impose your ideas of what needs to be done. Greg wanted to build a school for Korphe, but the village elder, Haji Ali, said "yes, we want a school, but we need a bridge first." (2) Start small and expand as funds become available; grow the work organically. Greg started with building one school in Korphe, and it took him 3 years to do it, but once he did that, funds became availabe to do other projects. (3) Be prepared for hardship and privation. Greg put up with adverse local conditions, long plane flights, long car rides along terrifyingly inadequate "roads", and drew a salary of only $28,000 annually for several years. (4) Spend money responsibly and keep good records. Greg was always very careful with how he spent his donors' money. The Central Asia Insitute is model for keeping administrative overhead low and spending the great bulk of donors' money on the actual program: building schools, buying supplies, paying teachers, etc. (5) Along the lines of being responsible with money, do not pay bribes. Greg ran into several scrapes where it would have been easier to pay someone off, and he wouldn't do it. Once, the villagers of Korphe paid a bribe, but Greg and CAI will not do it, even though it seemed like it might be faster. (6) Get most of your operating funds from small donors who will not try to use their donations to control your activities. Greg had one angel donor who helped him get started, Jean Hoerni, a silicon valley millionaire, but the majority of CAI's donations have come from smaller donors.
I think these lessons are applicable to other independent ministries, charities, development & relief organizations, etc.
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