Quotes

Relin, the writer of the book, begins each chapter with a quote. As you read each chapter, do you see a connection between the quote and the content of the chapter? Are there any quotes that you find particularly interesting? Why? One of the quotes that was memorable is the quote at the beginning of Chapter 18 by Mother Teresa "Let nothing perturb you, ....Patience achieves everything." Do you think Mortenson would agree?

Summer Reading and Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea is now on the Summer Reading List for Non-Honors Students at the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School. Do you think this is a good book for high school students to be reading? Do you think that the book would have a different effect on teens than it would have on older adults? For example, do you think teens would be more motivated to do something to help the young people in Pakistan than would older adults? Or do you think the age of the reader does not matter?

Jean Hoerni

What do you think of Jean Hoerni? Why do you think he decided to give money to Mortenson? Why do you think he felt so strongly about building the school?

Tara Mortenson

What do you think about Tara (Bishop) Mortenson? Do you get a good sense of who she is and why she married her husband?

Is this the way to start?

Have you ever wanted to start a non-profit organization or had a "cause" that you wanted to make a reality? Would you start the way Mortenson started? He wrote letters to many people he did not know and asked for money. Eventually he connected with the right people and one donor made most of the first school possible. Do you think that if he had had a plan for raising funds and was better organized at the beginning, things would have happened differently?

Why?

Why do you think Greg Mortenson climbed mountains? Do you think that the same reason he felt he had to climb mountains is the same reason he felt he had to build a school? Or do you think that the two are not related?

June 2008-Three Cups of Tea

The Laid Back Book Club book for June 2008 is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This book has been very popular with book discussion groups (Norwalk Public Library hosted an in-person discussion of the book last week). It has also been the "One Book" read by a number of communities. Fairfield, CT featured the book a few months ago. We hope you will enjoy reading the book and commenting on it on this blog.