Monday, March 10, 2008

Book Review: "Three Cups of Tea" By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Very seldom one comes to reading inspirational non-fiction at its best. This book is one of them. If you are reading this review and have not read the book yet, my advice to you to read this one. It is not high on its literary merit but its on the top for its inspirational value. Tegu recommended this book to me and what a recommendation it has been. Thanks Tegu for this one...

This book is one man’s story about fighting poverty, cultural divide and educate girls in some of the remotest corner of Pakistan and Afganistan. It is also this man's answer to the increasing terrorism in these areas - as he says, for every child going into regular school (not extremist schools) he is reducing the terror factor. The man, Greg Mortenson, is a ex-army medic and a mountaineer. During this failed attempt to scale world's second highest peak, K2, he lands into a rather forgotten region of the Karakoram Mountains. And begins the extraordinary journey to defeat poverty and terrorism, one school at a time, in these areas. Inspired by the need to give back to the villagers who cared for him a lot, Greg starts a mission to build schools for the children. And then it spreads from one village to another, till the time it becomes a full fledged humanitarian organization called Central Asia Institute building schools, bridges, water systems, and vocational centers. Although he faces lots of personal, financial & political obstacles, Greg Mortenson works his way through them and is still delivering to people not just in Pakistan but also in Afganistan. And during his course, he is also shattering the very negative views people have about this region. Not every child is terrorist here as is usually projected.

This book would make you think before saying, "What difference can one make?” Read this book for not how it is written, read it for what it has been written.

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