Greg Mortenson's Stones Into Schools

The latest book to get checked off my to-read list is Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson, the follow-up to Three Cups of Tea.

While Greg Mortenson’s first book was about how a failed attempt to climb K2 turned into the fulfillment of a promise to build a school in Korphe, Pakistan, Stones Into Schools is about how that original mission progressed into the establishment of The Central Asia Institute and it’s incredible involvement in helping to establish over 130 other schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

My fascination with Mortenson’s work comes from many directions, namely my love for a great adventure story, my undying belief in the importance of education and my admiration for the power of a single individual.

The advancement of mankind takes place when good ideas win out over bad ones. This advancement does not occur through the use of a proxy -- in this case, the actions of our own military. Gaining compliance from the rest of the world at the barrel of a gun will never stop terrorism. Terrorism will only end when we, as individual American citizens, engage the world directly and independently, with sincere compassion for everyone’s well-being.

This book shines as a prime example. Greg Mortenson dodges the bureaucracies on all sides and, with the help of donations from common, every-day individual American supporters and a rag-tag team of Central Asians on the ground, manages to traverse all obstacles.

Greg Mortenson is an adventurer, humanitarian, educator, and a little bit crazy, but the team he has assembled on the ground in Central Asia is even more interesting, making this follow-up even better than the first. Stones Into Schools is heart-wrenching, thrilling and down-right satisfying. More importantly, it is a guidebook on how we can change the world one little girl at a time.