Product Description

'Here we drink three cups of tea to do business; 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' - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. "Three Cups of Tea" is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools - especially for girls - in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #211 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
'Here we drink three cups of tea to do business; 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' - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. "Three Cups of Tea" is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools - especially for girls - in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.

About the Author
Greg Mortenson is the director of the Central Asia Institute, and he spends several months each year building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He lives in Montana with his wife and two children. David Oliver Relin is a globe-trotting journalist who has won more than forty national awards for his writing and editing. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Customer Reviews

Three Cups of Tea
This is the most inspiring book I have read this year, I could not put it down, and I shall be buying many copys for Christmas presents. I have already recommended it to lots of friends. It is increadable what Greg Mortenson has achieved in such a short time, what a wonderful way to promote peace. I did not want the book to end, it was so well written. Just wish there were many more Greg Mortenson's in the world.

Three Cups of Tea
Three Cups of Tea

Fantastic book, easy to read and shows what one man with masses of determination can do to make the world a better and safer place to live in. Thoroughly recommend it.

a most inspiring book....
a wonderful book, when reality becomes mythical....it makes you reconsider many points of view,opens a big window of humanity in you.
i was very moved....and grateful