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| Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Viking
Category: EBooks
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.51
You Save: $6.49 (43%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  1554 reviews
Sales Rank: 12
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.82209549
ASIN: B000OT8GTO
Publication Date: March 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
One American has done with mere thousands what his government hasn't been able to do with billions - Fight Terrorism! September 6, 2006
42 out of 48 found this review helpful
Greg Mortenson is a super-hero of modern times. He has successfully waged a Jihad against illiteracy in the northern areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is a very well written book and much more than a story about a guy who started building schools in a remote region of the world. This is a story of his incredible life - a life his fellow Americans can be proud of; a life that can teach so much to so many - especially the leaders of the developed nations.
Best book I've read this year!
Uplifting and hopeful February 5, 2007
42 out of 47 found this review helpful
It is very easy to write a check and feel as though we are helping, even changing the world. We donate to charities and sometimes even give our time as volunteers but Greg Mortenson took it so many steps further. This one man with a great heart has changed the lives of so many Afghan and Pakistani children. Mortenson's work serves to paint a different picture of the American citizen and will help to erase the negativity some our foreign policies have created.
Greg Mortenson paid back a debt one hundred fold and in the process became a one-man peace keeping mission, potentially accomplishing more towards peace in the Middle East than any government sponsored effort could ever hope to match. By educating the youngest, most vulnerable, you are giving hope, a future. These children will be less likely to be drawn into the hate and revenge that has overwhelmed these countries. They say "a child will lead them"and Greg Mortenson gift has given thousands of children the educational gift to make that possible. This was a wonderful, uplifting book and I highly recommend it.
As-Salaam Alaaikum (Peace Be Upon You) August 16, 2006
41 out of 44 found this review helpful
"Cheezaley! Where did this thing come from?" was my initial thought upon opening the Amazon.com box and finding THREE CUPS OF TEA. I hadn't ordered it, and my birthday was months away. The shipping invoice declared it a gift from some guy I'd never heard of, and I approached the book with suspicion, assuming it to contain some variety of reactionary religious or political propaganda. After all, the only printed matter that I'm accustomed to receiving free of charge generally comes from conservatively dressed people who ring the doorbell. My suspicion deepened when the dust jacket blurb informed me that the book had been written by a journalist about the true adventures of Greg Mortenson. The latest book I had read which was written by a journalist about someone else, Slavomir Rawicz by name, was THE LONG WALK: THE TRUE STORY OF A TREK TO FREEDOM, and, while it was an intriguing read, the encounter with the Yeti led me to conclude that at least some of its truths were rather subjective, and I really didn't want to put up with that sort of thing again. Still, I decided to give at least the first chapter a try.
The moment I began to read Relin's biography of Greg Mortenson, I was jolted back four decades when, as a teenager, I had read THE ROMANTIC WORLD OF RICHARD HALLIBURTON, the captivating tales of a young man's adventurous travels to strange lands that I still know only vicariously through the enchantment of books. Many years and many miles have dimmed my memory of the details in that book but have never lessened my admiration of Halliburton's daring or of the exuberance of his writing. The fervor of Relin's narrative drew me into THREE CUPS OF TEA as thoroughly and as passionately has I had dived into Hallibuton forty years ago, and as no other book had done since. Relin is a master storyteller, and the factual nature of his story makes it the more compelling.
Had I any lingering doubt whatsoever about the sheer joy of being in the company of this storyteller, it vanished forever on the thirtieth page by his adroit use of a single adjective that was clearly not to be found in my recognition vocabulary. Nor was it found in two dictionaries in my home library. Be honest now: Do you, fellow reader, honestly know what "prelapsarian" means? (Hint: Search Bartleby.com.) Any writer who can lead me on that long a chase for an elusive definition has my respect and attention, and I'll even forgive his overuse of "precipitous" a few chapters further on in describing the looming cliffs and gargantuan monoliths of the Karakoram Range in northern Pakistan.
Of course a captivating word hoard corralled into expressive syntax does not necessarily equate to a valuable book. The message also has a contribution to make. And what a message this story conveys! It is the message of staggering human need in some of the most impressive yet most inhospitable land upon the Earth. It is the message of a few real miracles that have enabled a handful of people to make real inroads in addressing that need, and the greatest thing is that each of those miracles has come from individual human effort and generosity. It is the message of both humanity and barbarism in the Muslim world of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a message that warns of the blindness and self-destructiveness of stereotyping an entire people because of the extremism of factions within their cultures.
THREE CUPS OF TEA is quite instructive, too. If one is at all interested in the reasons behind the growth of jihadists and terrorists in Muslim Asian cultures, the answers are here. If one is curious as to which United States ally funds the cancerous spread of the madrassas, the fundamentalist academies which issue forth a flood of committed jihadists, that answer is here. The evolving and fluid relationships of the mujahadeen, the Taliban, and U.S.-made Stinger missiles become more comprehensible to the reader of this tale. Of greatest significance, however, the ultimate answer to the problem of terrorism also lies within these pages.
A quick word of reassurance is in order here. That I describe this book as having a message and as being instructive does not imply that it is a dry textbook of facts, nor does it imply that it is a compendium of "holier than thou" sermons. It is a tale of true adventure. The "messages" and the "instruction" are there to be found by the attentive reader but he is never force fed. Call them "value added" attributes to the thrill of the story.
What sort of reading audience would best be served by THREE CUPS OF TEA? I claim no expertise as a reading specialist, but I believe that every teenager possessed of competent reading skill will love the adventure in this book. Beyond that audience, I recommend it with all the enthusiasm I can convey to every citizen who casts a ballot to elect those who make national policy (in every country), to every person elected to such an office, and to everyone who considers himself a patriot, an educator, a warrior, or a peacemaker. Had I the influence and wherewithal, I would gift this book to every public and private school and university, and insist that it be required reading. Of course, this is not going to happen, so the best I can do is to recommend it to you, patient reader. Yet I must warn you that, once begun, this book cannot be put down for long (and you'll also find the wonderful humor in the exclamation with which I began this review as well as the significance of three cups of tea).
 incredible boring July 13, 2007
41 out of 120 found this review helpful
I could not make it past page 75, incredible boring and poorly written. the ego stuff got really boring. Ignore the other reviews,its very porrly written.
 I wanted to like it November 23, 2007
41 out of 53 found this review helpful
I wanted to like this book. Based on the descriptions I read of the book, it seemed to be a perfect match with my beliefs. And then I tried to read it. And then I tried again. I couldn't get into it because it was written more like hero worship or propoganda than a story. I wish Dr. Greg continued success in his work, but I don't recommend the book.
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