ABOUT THE BOOK

# 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list since 2007, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson and Oliver Rellin is the spellbinding true story of an individual who turns a personal failure into a personal triumph that literally changes the world. Filled with high adventure, inspired love and romance, and the kind of personal odyssey that reminds one of the great classics, ‘Three Cups of Tea’ is more than a worthwhile read, it is a necessary read if you want to better understand the critical issues that surround Central Asia today, and to view global humanity at its best.

Greg Mortenson loses his way on a perilous climb up K2 in Pakistan, the second tallest peak in the world. Though he nearly dies from exposure and starvation, a local villager and his family nurture Mortenson back to life. “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger,” the man from Korphi tells Mortenson. “The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time you become family.”

As Mortenson regains his health he comes to understand that his new family, and the family of villagers of which he is now a part needs one thing above all: a school. Thus Mortenson realizes his new goal and dream: to build a school for this impoverished Pakistani village, a staggering goal and far more challenging than climbing the great K2. By the time Mortenson travels between the U.S. and Central Asia to raise money, several years have elapsed. The newly established Central Asia Institute's “Pennies for Peace” becomes the primary funding source for the construction of a school. Withstanding cultural, political and religious differences, Mortenson finally finishes the first school in Korphie, and along with ‘Pennies for Peace’ oversees the construction of schools for girls across rural Afghanistan and Pakistan.