Three Cups of Tea Reviews on the Book
Reading Guide Questions 
Please be aware that this word guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction
Iii Cups of Tea is the true story of one of the most extraordinary humanitarian missions of our time. In 1993, a young American mountain climber named Greg Mortenson stumbles into a tiny hamlet high in Islamic republic of pakistan'due south beautiful and desperately poor Karakoram Himalaya region. Sick, exhausted, and depressed after a failing to scale the acme of K2, Mortenson regains his strength and his volition to live thanks to the generosity of the people of the village of Korphe. Before he leaves, Mortenson makes a vow that volition profoundly change both the villagers' lives and his own—he will return and build them a school.
The volume traces how Mortenson kept this promise (and many more than) in the loftier country of Pakistan and Transitional islamic state of afghanistan, despite considerable odds. The region is remote and dangerous, a notorious convenance ground for Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. In the course of his piece of work, Mortenson was kidnapped and threatened with expiry. He endured local rivalries, deep misunderstandings, jealousy, and corruption, not to mention treacherous roads and epic weather. But he believed passionately that counterbalanced, non-extremist pedagogy, for boys and girls alike, is the well-nigh effective way to combat the violent intolerance that breeds terrorism. To appointment, Mortenson's Primal Asia Institute has constructed fifty-five schools, and his piece of work continues.
Mortenson initially approached Karakoram every bit a climber and he never lost the backwoodsman's appreciation for the region's austere beauty and incredible physical challenges. His coauthor David Oliver Relin deftly evokes loftier-altitude landscapes haunted past glaciers, snow leopards, and the deaths of scores of climbers. As Mortenson transformed himself from down-and-out climbing bum to the managing director of a humanitarian enterprise, he came to appreciate more and more securely the struggles that people of the region endure every day—struggles that have intensified with the recent explosion of war and sectarian violence.
In the grade of this narrative, readers come to know Mortenson as a friend, a husband and father, a traveling companion, a son and blood brother, and as well as a flawed human being. Mortenson made enemies along the way and frustrated his friends and family. Relin does not shy away from depicting the human being'southward exasperating qualities—his restlessness, disorganization, sleeplessness, and utter disregard for punctuality. But Mortenson never asks others to make sacrifices that he has not already fabricated himself fourth dimension and time again.
The war-torn mountains of Islamic republic of pakistan and Afghanistan appear in the news as the breeding grounds of terrorist training camps, Al Qaeda hide-outs, and fierce religious extremism. In Iii Cups of Tea, Mortenson and Relin take readers behind the headlines to reveal the true middle and soul of this explosive region and to show how i man's promise might be enough to alter the world.
Word Questions
- In that location is a telling passage well-nigh Mortenson'due south modify of direction at the outset of the book: "One evening, he went to bed by a yak dung burn a mountaineer who'd lost his way, and one morn, by the fourth dimension he'd shared a pot of butter tea with his hosts and laced up his boots, he'd become a humanitarian who'd found a meaningful path to follow for the rest of his life." What fabricated Mortenson particularly ripe for such a transformation? Has anything similar happened in your own life?
- Relin gives a "warts and all" portrait of Mortenson, showing him every bit a hero simply also every bit a flawed human with some exasperating traits. Talk well-nigh how Relin chose to write about Mortenson's character—his choice of details, his perspective, the way he constructs scenes. Is Mortenson someone you lot'd like to get to know, work with, or take as a neighbour or friend?
- At the center of the volume is a powerful simply unproblematic political bulletin: we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one loving cup of tea at a time. Yet the book powerfully dramatizes the obstacles in the mode of this philosophy: bloody wars waged by huge armies, prejudice, religious extremism, cultural barriers. What practice you recollect of the "one cup of tea at a time" philosophy? Do yous recollect Mortenson's vision can piece of work for lasting and meaningful modify?
- Take you ever known anyone like Mortenson? Have yous ever had the experience of making a difference yourself through acts of generosity, aid, or leadership?
- The Balti people are fierce yet extremely hospitable, kind yet rigid, determined to better themselves all the same stuck in the by. Hash out your reactions to them and the other groups that Mortenson tries to assistance.
- Afterward Haji Ali's family saves Greg'southward life, he reflects that he could never "imagine discharging the debt he felt to his hosts in Korphe." Discuss this sense of indebtedness as key to Mortenson's character. Why was Mortenson compelled to return to the region again and again? In your opinion, does he repay his debt by the end of the book?
- References to paradise run throughout the book—Mortenson's childhood home in Tanzania, the mountain scenery, even Berkeley, California, are all referred to as "paradise." Talk over the concept of paradise, lost and regained, and how information technology influences Mortenson's mission.
- Mortenson's transition from climbing bum to humanitarian hero seems very abrupt. All the same, looking back, it'south clear that his sense of mission is rooted in his babyhood, the values of his parents, and his relationship with his sister Christa. Talk over the diverse facets of Mortenson's character—the freewheeling mountain climber, the ER nurse, the devoted son and blood brother, and the leader of a humanitarian cause. Practice y'all view him as continuing the work his male parent began?
- "I expected something like this from an ignorant village mullah, but to get those kinds of letters from my swain Americans made me wonder whether I should merely give upward," Mortenson remarked after he started getting hate mail service in the wake of September 11. What was your reaction to the letters Mortenson received?
- Mortenson hits many bumps in the road—he'south broke, his girlfriend dumps him, he is forced to build a bridge before he can build the school, his health suffers, and he drives his family crazy. Discuss his repeated brushes with failure and how they influenced your opinion of Mortenson and his efforts.
- The authors write that "the Balti held the cardinal to a kind of simple happiness that was disappearing in the developing world." This peaceful simplicity of life seems to be function of what attracts Mortenson to the villagers. Discuss the pros and cons of bringing "civilization" to the mountain community.
- Much of the book is a meditation on what it ways to be a foreigner assimilating with another culture. Discuss your own experiences with foreign cultures—things that you have learned, mistakes you have made, misunderstandings y'all accept endured.
- Did the book modify your views toward Islam or Muslims? Consider the cleric Syed Abbas, and besides the cleric who chosen a fatwa on Mortenson. Syed Abbas implores Americans to "wait into our hearts and see that the groovy majority of us are not terrorists, just good and elementary people." Discuss this statement. Has the book inspired you lot to learn more about the region?
Unless otherwise stated, this give-and-take guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
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