Three Cups of Tea
By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
By Sarah-Kate
My friend who goes by the name of Very Pretty, Terrifically
Slim and Really Quite Brainy Miranda, has been on at me to read this book all
year and as I already have a huge pile of books I haven't got to yet, I
suggested she write the review for me, so here it is:
If you only read one book this year, then make it Three Cups
Of Tea. The title refers to a proverb which says that
in Pakistan and Afghanistan doing business with someone takes three cups of tea
- with the first cup you are a stranger, the second a friend, and the third one
makes you family. For family they will do anything - even die.
Greg Mortenson is my hero, and I wish there were more heroes
in the world like him. He travels between America and the Taliban heartlands as
a one man band, selling all his worldly possessions and battling extraordinary
hardships (such an inadequate word for the fry of the mullahs, the corruption
and hostility, the death threats and the kidnapping!) in his mission to promote
peace in the Middle East with "books not bombs" by building schools
for the local people.
Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin well deserves
the awards he's won for turning Greg Mortenson's
hard-to-believe adventure, with its amazing high points and terrifying lows,
into a cohesive story. Reading this book will make you re-evaluate your life
when you realise how much one person on their own can achieve.
Greg's story is thrilling and frightening but ultimately
enormously satisfying, and makes you wish that everyone else (particularly the
world's politicians) would read it and follow this most unlikely diplomat's
lead. www.threecupsoftea.com
(c) 2007 New Zealand Women's
Weekly. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission