1. Discuss the circumstances, personal characteristics, and family influences that contributed to Mortenson's humanitarian mission in Pakistan.
2. What is the significance of tea in this
book and in the title?
3. Describe persons with whom Mortenson
works who made an impression on you. What makes them memorable?
4. Agree or disagree with Mortenson's statement:
"When we increase literacy, we substantially reduce tensions."
5. Comment on Mortenson's decision that
CAI schools should emphasize increasing girls' enrollment. "Once
you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search
for work in the cities. But girls stay home, become leaders in
the community, and pass on what they've learned. If you really
want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene
and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the
answer is to educate girls."
6. How has this book added to your understanding
of other cultures and a geographic region few Americans have an
opportunity to experience firsthand?
7. How does Relin's telling the story give
it a different perspective than if Mortenson had written the narrative
himself?
8. Mortenson's taking the wrong trail after
leaving the Baltoro Glacier led him to Korphe. There he made a
promise that changed his life. Tell about a single life-changing
experience that has happened to you or someone you know.
9. It has been suggested that Tara, Mortenson's
wife, is as much a hero in her own right as he is in his. How
would you respond to this comment?
10. Is Mortenson someone you would like to know? What questions would you ask him?
11. There is a telling passage about Mortenson's
change of direction at the start of the book: "One evening,
he went to bed by a yak dung fire a mountaineer who'd lost his
way, and one morning, by the time 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 made Mortenson particularly ripe for such a transformation?
Has anything similar happened in your own life?
12. Mortenson is shown as a hero but also as a flawed human being with some exasperating traits. Talk about Mortenson's character. Is he someone you'd like to get to know, work with, or have as a neighbor or friend?
13. At the heart of the book is a powerful but simple political message: we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one cup of tea at a time. Yet the book powerfully dramatizes the obstacles in the way of this philosophy: bloody wars waged by huge armies, prejudice, religious extremism, cultural barriers. What do you think of the "one cup of tea at a time" philosophy? Do you think Mortenson's vision can work for lasting and meaningful change?
14. Have you ever known anyone like Mortenson? Have you ever had the experience of making a difference yourself through acts of generosity, aid, or leadership?
15. The Balti people are fierce yet extremely
hospitable, kind yet rigid, determined to better themselves yet
stuck in the past. Discuss your reactions to them and the other
groups that Mortenson tries to help.
16. After Haji Ali's family saves Greg's 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?
17. 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." Discuss the concept of paradise, lost and regained, and how it influences Mortenson's mission.
18. Mortenson's transition from climbing
bum to humanitarian hero seems very abrupt. However, looking back,
it's clear that his sense of mission is rooted in his childhood,
the values of his parents, and his relationship with his sister
Christa. Discuss the various facets of Mortenson's character-the
freewheeling mountain climber, the ER nurse, the devoted son and
brother, and the leader of a humanitarian cause. Do you view him
as continuing the work his father began?
19. "I expected something like this from an ignorant village mullah, but to get those kinds of letters from my fellow Americans made me wonder whether I should just give up," Mortenson remarked after he started getting hate mail in the wake of September 11. What was your reaction to the letters Mortenson received?
20. Mortenson hits many bumps in the road: he's 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.
21. The books states "the Balti held the key to a kind of uncomplicated happiness that was disappearing in the developing world." This peaceful simplicity of life seems to be part of what attracts Mortenson to the villagers. Discuss the pros and cons of bringing "civilization" to the mountain community.
22. Much of the book is a meditation on what it means 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 you have endured.
23. Did the book change your views toward Islam or Muslims? Consider the cleric Syed Abbas, and also the cleric who called a fatwa on Mortenson. Syed Abbas implores Americans to "look into our hearts and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people." Discuss this statement. Has the book inspired you to learn more about the region?
Reproduced in part with permission from Penguin Group (USA)
Booklists:
