Dec 03 2008
Three Cups of Tea: Still a Bestseller, and for Good Reason
Three Cups of Tea --by Greg Mortenson
With so much to say about such a remarkable and now so popular story, it’s hard to know where to start. Before he set about single-handedly changing the landscape of northern Pakistan (work that, some contend, will eventually earn him the Nobel Peace Prize), author Greg Mortenson was a climbing enthusiast. It was after a failed and traumatic attempt at K2 that he first stumbled upon the small village of Korphe in the Baltistan region of Pakistan. Touched by the poverty, wisdom and kindness of the Korphe village, Mortenson’s life-path changed literally overnight and he committed himself to building a school for this unknown village. And the rest is history… Well, not exactly.
“The rest” is actually the remarkable story that is retold in Three Cups of Tea. Already from the cover anyone can see that Mortenson accomplished something great – the “#1 New York Times Bestseller” caption is one clue, the Kiriyama Prize Winner seal and the Tom Brokaw blurb are two more. But what the cover doesn’t reveal, and what no friend can properly relay to you (because by now most know someone that has read this book and felt compelled to talk about it), is just how hard Mortenson had to work to build the first school, not to mention the subsequent fifty.
Among his other adventures, Mortenson found himself in northern Pakistan on 9/11, was once kidnapped and held for six solid days, was inadvertently caught in the middle of an opium trade, and once wound up having tea with Taliban leaders. You may not have guessed that this seemingly charming story about building schools for children would include kidnapping and terrorist attacks – but it does, and it’s all engrossing. This is a book that will offer any of its readers something meaningful.
So, I admit that I’m about a year and a half late in writing this book review, but Mortenson’s mission to build schools and educate children, especially girls, in northern Pakistan and then Afghanistan is one worth advocating and promoting (no matter how long ago the book was first published). Read more about Mortenson’s mission at the Three Cups of Tea website and find out about other GCB Bestsellers right here on our blog.
Read more: Bestsellers, Book Reviews, Central Asia, Greg Mortenson, Nobel Prize, Pakistan, Three Cups of TeaJess
