Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan in Around the World in 80 Books

Oct 02, 2010 Sunflower rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction-read-2010

"A wise man from my home once told me that these mountains have seen far too much suffering and killing, and that each rock and boulder you see represents a mujahadeen who died fighting the Russians or the Taliban. Then the man went on to say...it is time to build a new ear of peace-and the first step in that process is to take up the stones, and start turning them into schools".
Pretty much says it all. How can you not admire the guy? A crusade to educate children, particularly girls, in one of ...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Madeleine rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, bio-memoir

My book club read this (my in-person, NV book club that is...I have been ignoring my virtual/Seattle book-club, very sorry!)! I <3 my book club and I am seriously tempted to write about how awesome they are instead of collecting my thoughts on this book. But I probably should stay on point...

I read Three Cups of Tea a couple of years ago and honestly I didn't expect to like it. I did like it though--I liked it a lot--so bear with me as I explain what I was expecting it to be like. There are a lo My book club read this (my in-person, NV book club that is...I have been ignoring my virtual/Seattle book-club, very sorry!)! I <3 my book club and I am seriously tempted to write about how awesome they are instead of collecting my thoughts on this book. But I probably should stay on point...

I read Three Cups of Tea a couple of years ago and honestly I didn't expect to like it. I did like it though--I liked it a lot--so bear with me as I explain what I was expecting it to be like. There are a lot of books out there about privileged U.S. kids (ok, twenty/thirty-somethings) "saving" people, "saving the world," etc. I am so SICK of being preached at by privileged folks who think that they are entitled to tell people of the Global South how to solve their problems by virtue of some combination of their education and their wealth and their gender and their whiteness. I am ESPECIALLY sick of that narrative when the authors/speakers can't even bring themselves to recognize that their own privilege exists as a flip side of the "problems" (structural injustice would be a better word) they want to solve. I'm not saying I have the answers as to how to be a solidarity activist and not do these things: I'm just saying I want to do whatever work I end up doing in a fundamentally different way. One way to figure out how to do that is to study those privileged activists who do manage to follow different paths (obviously, another and I think more important way is by listening to non-privileged, Third World voices for justice that are often silenced). See where I'm going with this? I dismissed Mortenson as the former sort of do-gooder before I even started the book, and it turned out that he struck me as more of the latter (up for debate, of course).

I learned from reading about Mortenson's work helping communities build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan because he seems to have the ability to genuinely listen to and work with the people he wants to help. He reminds me of Paul Farmer in this regard (read Mountains Beyond Mountains which is about Farmer's work with Partners in Health in Haiti if you haven't already...I'm working on reading some of Farmer's own stuff now). ...more

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Oct 07, 2010 Jen Pratt rated it it was amazing

Greg Mortenson proves that one person really can do so much good in the world. I love that he helps people help themselves!

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Feb 10, 2010 kaylanurul rated it liked it

Though the book is not as smoothly written as "three cups of tea", its moral story remains at how powerful books could be. Greg tries to convince me that books is what can change one's life, not bombs and not other. But sadly, he seems to work alone which left the project less desirable and appealing than John Wood's Rooms to Read. But still, I admire his courage to put effort to bring books in war-striken countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan ...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Steph S rated it it was ok

Shelves: nonfiction, 2011, neiu, author-male

2 stars because it is imaginative, moving, and creates a much-needed awareness. No more than that because much of it is (allegedly) untrue, though it is presented as non-fiction.

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