Marie's review
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
I had the privilege of hearing Greg speak about this book and his life and he is far, far more humble than the impression this book gave you, Marie. I know this won't change your opinion of the book, but I feel compelled to at least defend (for lack of a more benign word) him. To me, in a nutshell, Greg is cut from different cloth than the normal person, in how he grew up and how he views the world. Then as a young adult he seemed a bit lost, and during a wayward point in his young life something clicked in him and he immediately connected with building schools for girls. From what I can tell, this passion runs his entire life. If he's not building schools in Pakistan he's fund raising for the schools. I do believe Greg uses his book as a tool, but not one to put him in the spotlight, but rather to simply tell his story in order to get people to help his cause. He seems truly devoted to educating girls in impoverished countries.
i concure 100%. when the author was going on and on and on and on about Mr. Mortisen i was imagining that Mr. Mortisen would be cringing to hear these words all strung together and somewhat even distracting from the amazing things that he is accomplishing. The over all feel was that he is SO Unique, that his ideals are SO unatainable by us: mere mortals, that we should just worship him rather than attempt to emulate his practices.
I was imagining that Mr. Morisen would be uncomfortable with all the accolades if nothing else, because in general people that live so incredibly self sacrificaly as he does do NOT enjoy having the lime light so blindingly focused on themselves.
and yet. it was. and i believe it made for poor reading material and served less as an inspiration to participate in bettering other peoples exsistence than as a an opportunity to say, "wow I could NEVER do that".
* but seriously kudos galore to Greg Mortisen there is no doubt that his impact in that part of the world is fricken amazing!!!!
Is there a problem with being narcissitic? I hear about all the wonderful things I've done. I also remind myself daily how great I am. I can't wait to hear Dr. Smith this and Dr. Smith that...
why not? we hear, "Dr. Smith this and Dr. Smith that" all the time. from you!
What happened to my second comment yesterday!?! Did one of you pull it off the thread!?!
I never saw it? what did you say? that i'm right and i'm brillant i'm sure. re-post! re-post! re-post!
I HATE reposting.
I said something to the effect that I had two last tidbits about this particular book.
The first literary gem escapes me. Don't hold your breath though, I have a poor memory and will likely never remember. But the second literary gem involved with 3 Cups is that the hardcover edition (I LOVE hardcovers) has a subtitle that uses the word "terrorism" (something about one man's fight against terrorism). Mortenson fought against using that word but didn't win. The hardcover didn't do well commercially and so he fought again to have the word essentially replaced with "peace" -- he got his way, finally, and the paperback is still doing well years later. Fascinating.
Thank you for reposting! We all appreciate it eventhough you HATE reposting!
My generosity knows no bounds ... you are more than welcome.
I saw the hardcover version in the bookstore, and the original subtitle turned me off. I eventually heard enough good things to go ahead and read it, and I'm glad I did. It's amazing how one little word can have such an effect on how people perceive a book.
Mortisen rocks. the writing sucks. my final position.
It is a shame that evil marketing people (yes, this is the industry I am currently bringing home the bacon in) get in the way of an author's wishes.
Marie's review
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Marie's review
rating:
bookshelves:
nonfiction
Greg Mortisen this, Greg Mortisen that, Dr. Greg this, Dr. Greg that blah, blah, blah. This book was such a glowing endorsment for the person Greg Mortisen that I had a hard time taking in the story of what he did, because quite frankly I was getting sick of him. Which isn't necessarly fair because he wasn't telling the story so I'm not saying he's narsacistic or anything but the person telling it could have toned it down a notch or two and let us come to our conclusion, and no doubt we would have, that Greg Mortisen is a super great guy for what he did. About 2/3 of the way through I thought "oh my gosh, this sounds more like a plea for Greg Mortisen to get the nobel peace prize" than an actual book and sure enough a few chapters later they were talking about how deserving of the nobel peace prize he is. and i might agree but by the time the book was over i was feeling like, "hey, some of us get lost in Pakistan while cllimbing mountains and then return to build schools...more
I had the privilege of hearing Greg speak about this book and his life and he is far, far more humble than the impression this book gave you, Marie. I know this won't change your opinion of the book, but I feel compelled to at least defend (for lack of a more benign word) him. To me, in a nutshell, Greg is cut from different cloth than the normal person, in how he grew up and how he views the world. Then as a young adult he seemed a bit lost, and during a wayward point in his young life something clicked in him and he immediately connected with building schools for girls. From what I can tell, this passion runs his entire life. If he's not building schools in Pakistan he's fund raising for the schools. I do believe Greg uses his book as a tool, but not one to put him in the spotlight, but rather to simply tell his story in order to get people to help his cause. He seems truly devoted to educating girls in impoverished countries.
i concure 100%. when the author was going on and on and on and on about Mr. Mortisen i was imagining that Mr. Mortisen would be cringing to hear these words all strung together and somewhat even distracting from the amazing things that he is accomplishing. The over all feel was that he is SO Unique, that his ideals are SO unatainable by us: mere mortals, that we should just worship him rather than attempt to emulate his practices.
I was imagining that Mr. Morisen would be uncomfortable with all the accolades if nothing else, because in general people that live so incredibly self sacrificaly as he does do NOT enjoy having the lime light so blindingly focused on themselves.
and yet. it was. and i believe it made for poor reading material and served less as an inspiration to participate in bettering other peoples exsistence than as a an opportunity to say, "wow I could NEVER do that".
* but seriously kudos galore to Greg Mortisen there is no doubt that his impact in that part of the world is fricken amazing!!!!
Is there a problem with being narcissitic? I hear about all the wonderful things I've done. I also remind myself daily how great I am. I can't wait to hear Dr. Smith this and Dr. Smith that...
why not? we hear, "Dr. Smith this and Dr. Smith that" all the time. from you!
What happened to my second comment yesterday!?! Did one of you pull it off the thread!?!
I never saw it? what did you say? that i'm right and i'm brillant i'm sure. re-post! re-post! re-post!
I HATE reposting.
I said something to the effect that I had two last tidbits about this particular book.
The first literary gem escapes me. Don't hold your breath though, I have a poor memory and will likely never remember. But the second literary gem involved with 3 Cups is that the hardcover edition (I LOVE hardcovers) has a subtitle that uses the word "terrorism" (something about one man's fight against terrorism). Mortenson fought against using that word but didn't win. The hardcover didn't do well commercially and so he fought again to have the word essentially replaced with "peace" -- he got his way, finally, and the paperback is still doing well years later. Fascinating.
Thank you for reposting! We all appreciate it eventhough you HATE reposting!
My generosity knows no bounds ... you are more than welcome.
I saw the hardcover version in the bookstore, and the original subtitle turned me off. I eventually heard enough good things to go ahead and read it, and I'm glad I did. It's amazing how one little word can have such an effect on how people perceive a book.
Mortisen rocks. the writing sucks. my final position.
It is a shame that evil marketing people (yes, this is the industry I am currently bringing home the bacon in) get in the way of an author's wishes.