Three Cups of Tea

One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations

By: Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time: Greg Mortenson's one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson's incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built 55 schools. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world, one school at a time.

©2006 Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (P)2006 Tantor Media Inc

Critic reviews

"Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time....Not only a thrilling read, it's proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world." (Tom Brokaw)

Too bad it isn't all true - Audible should have a disclaimer

I enjoyed it at first but was suspicious- too bad it isn't a truthful account. Certainly he built schools. How many is difficult to know. Certainly he has learned how to work in remote and hospital conditions. Why he chose to fabricate interactions and parts of the story is a mystery to me.

Off to counterbalance with Three Cups of Deceit.

This story is fiction - it's really a pack of lies

What would have made Three Cups of Tea better?

Please stop selling this as non-fiction. It is an outrage what lies this man has told.

Do the research!

This author most likely is a fraud, but do the research yourself. The story would have been great, but there are some big holes in the story. So sad!

By Far the Worst Listening Experience

Words cannot express how much I hated this book. It is so unskillfully written that it's laughable. The author views his subject as manna from heaven (like it's so adorable when Mortenson shows up 10 days late for an important meeting) and the hero-worship is awful. Top that off with the world's worst narrator and you have the trifecta that makes this the world's worst audio book of all time. I am not faulting the work being done by Mortenson. But it could have been told in an interesting way that didn't make me want to run over my ipod in sheer frustration. If you MUST read this book, I would suggest that you get it in print because the print copy does have some interesting pictures. Or better yet, if you want to learn about the organization, read the webiste. You will understand everything perfectly from that. What an absolute horrible grating waste of time and a perfectly good Audible credit.

what?

Is this guy for real or juuust another con arteest. I shall have to downgrade my review rating downwards. Creditability shot in tushie.

Bleh

The voice really turned me off, especially when the narrator tried doing "accents," which were all a generic foreign accent. And it was just a butt-kissing session for the subject.

Boring

I tried six times to listen to this book, I even tried to read it. Each time I fell fast asleep.

A hero's tale

So much has been written about this book extolling its greatness that there is little that I can add except to recommend it to everyone. As a Marine who has been in some scary places in my life, I have not met anyone with more courage than Greg Mortenson... nor anyone who has contributed more to Peace.

boring as hell

the book completely sucked he is not going to fix anything. the schools could be taken over and tough terrorism

Worst audiobook ever

The narrator was awful and the way he pronounced certain words was very obnoxious. As soon as i started this book i learned that this guy Mortenson is a fraud and should have just returned it then.