I started Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson last week. The first 100 pages were grueling. The writing just didn't grip me. Then for about 75 pages I was totally engaged and enjoyed the read. Then it went down hill from there. At about page 220, I gave up.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great story of perseverance and humanity, but I just couldn't handle reading the entire book. I was bored out of my mind. Here are the book details if you are less ADD than I am. Maybe I'll try finishing it one day when I have a little more focus.
Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls.
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