Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

This is a book that I have been meaning to read for several years, and had been sitting on my bookcase for about 6 months before I got around to reading it.  And I loved it.

It is the story of Greg Mortenson:  born in America; grew up in Tanzania; became a mountain climber; got lost on his way down K2; and went on to form the Central Asia Institute, a charity that builds schools in rural Pakistan.

I loved this book, and it's subject, for so many reasons.  It shows his compassion and commitment to his cause; how his best teachers were the people in Pakistan that he was helping.  The book is also realistic.  Mr. Mortenson provided his co-writer with a list of his enemies and insisted that they be contacted as well to provide their side of the story.  So that the picture that comes across isn't that of a saint, but rather that of a man driven to improve the lives of people in less fortunate circumstances than us.