Book Notes: Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I struggled with this book. First of all, it's not well written. Almost every sentence is longer than necessary making it hard to follow. There are also so many names of friends, enemies, Sherpas, laborers, donors, regions and towns that I struggled to keep the details straight. I really wanted to like the book, about one man's dedication to establishing schools in the remote regions of Muslim Pakistan. On the one hand I admire his dedication and undoubtedly he has shaped the future for generations. I struggled because personally, I'm not comfortable with him leaving his wife 5 months pregnant for 3 months, then again two weeks after their baby was born. Then again, it was the wife's choice so I shouldn't judge, but how can I not, but then again, he's making a difference--you see my struggles!

In April 2011, 60 minutes did an expose on the author, Greg Mortenson and called into question much of the salacious content, such as getting abducted by the Taliban, and the more detailed content like how many schools he's actually started. I wish I learned of this after reading the book, but I can't deny that it colored the way I read the book. I tried to shift my thinking to it being a work of fiction, but I didn't even enjoy it as such because of the poor readability. Ultimately it felt like another example of a man who did something great at the sacrifice of his family.



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