Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson

Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson

420 pages Hardcover (Non-Fiction)

This is a follow up book to Three Cups of Tea. I will start with a little background to make sense of everything. At the beginning Mortenson attempts to climb K2. While coming down the mountain, after failing to reach the top, he gets lost. After almost starving he finds himself in a tiny mountain village called Korphe. Haji Ali is a town elder and brings the best of everything in the village to help this total stranger. After recovering from his ordeal he wants to help the village for their kindness. He sees the children in “school” in a field, writing in the dirt. He vows to make a school for the village. The first book focuses on the building of that school and how it opens up the floodgates for many more schools to be built in Pakistan.

Stones into Schools takes up roughly were the first book left off. At the beginning of the book a group of Afghani horsemen ride across a pass into Pakistan to meet with Mortenson. They convince him that a school needs to be made for the Kirghiz people in the Wakhan region of northern Afghanistan. He makes a solemn oath to build the school. Unfortunatly, soon after America attacks Afghanistan.

Over the next ten years in the midst of a war and through a major earthquake Moretenson’s organization, the Central Asia Institute, start to build schools across Afghanistan. They are plagued with bureaucratic nonsense, political upheaval, attacks from the Taliban, resistant family members, sickness and natural disasters. Mortenson meets Sarfraz Kahn. He is fluent in many lauguages and has the personality needed to persuade people into doing what is needed. Sarfraz Kahn and the other members of “The Dirty Dozen” work together to start making peace by spreading education. The ultimate goal is to build the school for the Wakhan Kirghiz.

Greg Mortenson writes from the heart. It feels as if he is writing this out to someone close to him. He reveals his owns weaknesses and worries as he attempts to build schools at the “Last Best Place” in the world. I tore through the book easily reading 50 pages a night before realizing I needed to go to sleep. The subject matter is something that is very dear to me: Education and an alternative to war.

5 Intellectual/ Emotional: The whole point is to be doing something constructive rather that destructive. More has been done by a small non-profit organization to encourage peaceful resolution than all the money spent on wars.

4 Style/ Readability: Mortenson presents himself in a humble and straight forward way. It feels as if you are being recounted the major events that he has been involved with. At no point do you get bogged down. You can just keep turning pages.

3 Long Term: As the “current event” status of what is happening with the school wanes so will the popularity of the book. BUT I think that this has the potential to be the start of a whole new way of doing foreign relations. Hopefully those that make these decisions can take from what Mortenson and the CAI has done and make peaceful resolutions rather than bombs.

12 out of 13. I personally feel both of his books should be required reading for most people. When the money it makes to make a bomb could go to make a school and we are still making bombs then there is something wrong with what we are doing. I think anyone with an opinion on how American involves itself in other countries can gain something from both Stone into Schools and Three Cups of Tea.


Keep Turning Pages.

The Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

657 Pages PB (Fantasy Fiction)

This book is hard to review. There is so much going on and so many characters and so many factions all intermixed with each other it is hard to know what is going on. After having read the book and am not 100% sure I know what was going on. It is written as if you are living on the world. You already know what has happened in the past so you are only told what is happening now. Some things that happen now aren’t explained enough to know what really happened. You throw in some magic explosions, portals and warring armies and gets confusing. Oh yeah, some gods come up to mess with things. Some people die and come back to life. Some die and turn into evil puppets and some live for thousands of years.

Let’s see if I can make some sense of it all.

Empress Laseen rules the Malazan Empire. Her goal is total domination. The jewel of the continent, Darujhistan, stands yet untaken. The siege of Pale is finished and Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners have been sent to infiltrate this ancient city. Here they hope to encourage the city to become a place of complete chaos once the Empire shows up.

The Assassins are on the brink of war within the city and it is dangerous times to be on the rooftops. Rumors claim of the Empire’s Claw assassins have entered the city and are looking to cause trouble.

Lorn, a high ranking official in the Empire, is searching in the hills looking to wake an ancient force. The Jaghut, a member of an ancient race, was imprisoned within the earth thousands of years ago. Lorn has been sent to release that power.

The men at the Phoenix Inn have agendas of their own. Kruppe, a babbling old wizard, that seems to have his hand involved in a little of everything. Crokus has fallen in love with a maiden who’s standing does not allow him a chance. Rallick is intermixed with the problems of the assassin’s Guild.

Paran is a noble born officer in the Empire. He is put in a command of the after fall of Pale. He is quickly killed. Before walking through the gates of the afterlife the Gods of Luck, Oponn, stop him and give him his life back. Just before he returns to the land of the living he sees, Shadowthorne, King of the High House Shadow and his Hounds. They beckon him through the gate. He stands up against them, but in doing so makes some enemies. His relationship with the gods is not fully revealed, but from that point on he becomes a pawn in a much greater game.

The tales of these characters as well as MANY others are intertwined and clashed together in this book. Stephenson was nice enough to include a glossary of sorts to help identify the various characters, factions and places. The beginning of the book can be hard to follow. As the book goes on you do start to understand who is who. It feels very much like this is the start of epic tale. It is the first of 10 books. I have been told that the following book makes this even easier to follow.

The writing is very rich and descriptive and the characters are unique and you sympathize with those on both “sides” of the war. That being said I did find it difficult to really get “into” the book. Many times with a fantasy book such as this I get lost in the story and don’t want to put it down. With Gardens of the Moon this wasn’t as apparent. This mostly had to do with the confusion. Not knowing exactly what was happening made it hard to get involved. That said, when I finished the book I wanted to start over again. Now that I have an understanding of what was going on a second read would make it all make sense.

4 Intellectual/Emotional: The characters are deep and well written. Although it’s in a fantasy world the characters act “real.” The Empire is dominating the world, but you feel for the characters that are “fighting” on the Empire’s side. The unending list of characters and places are enough to keep any reader busy keeping them all straight.

3 Style/ Readability: Stephenson writing style is Epic and engaging. It is difficult to keep track of it all and that makes the readability suffer. It seems to me that it will be worth it as you continue into the books.

3 Long Term Impact: This is one of the hardest to judge. I certainly has the potential to be a hit for the long term. It stands in the same category of Epicness as Martin, Jordan and Tolkien, but could get lost with so many competitors considering is difficulty to get through.

10 out of 13. A fine score for a lesser known book. I certainly will read the next in the series. I don’t think this is a good starting point for people just trying out fantasy, but many dedicated fantasy fans will find this worth their time.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

210 Pages PB (Fantasy Fiction)

This is the first in a series of books that all involve a world called Discworld. It is a disk floating though space on the back of four enormous elephants. These in turn are standing on the shell of an even bigger turtle. Pratchett takes the fantasy genre and turns it on its ear for a humorous and fun ride.

Rincewind is a pretty unfortunate wizard. In fact, he isn’t much of a wizard at all. In fact, in fact, he only knows one spell. And he can’t use it. Most likely it would destroy the world. He isn’t sure. Death is on his tail, but he is doing everything he can do avoid the appointment.

Twoflower is a tourist from the other side of the disc. Luckily for him gold is very easy to come by where he comes from. What he considers a normal tip for a small service is enough to keep a family happy for many years. He has a set of Luggage. This Luggage is a fantastic magical device that will protect and follow its owner anywhere.

Twoflower offers to hire Rincewind as a guide. Unfortunately, the city is soon consumed by a terrible fire. This sends the two into the wild country side of Discworld.

The book is broken into 4 chapters that cover the length of their journeys. Each one has its own story, but involves the same main characters. Rincewind and Twoflower find themselves in the tomb of a forgotten god, fight in an upside down mountain where dragons are made with a thought and find themselves captured by water fearing wizards when they thought they were about to fall off the edge of the world.

Pratchett has an entertaining way of writing. He uses plays on words and unexpectedly spins “traditional” fantasy so that it is very engaging. Since the world is filled with magic many impossible things are easily done and he uses it in a creative and humorous way.
I found myself laughing at parts, but the book wasn’t so silly as to turn a reader off. This leads to having a lighthearted feel. The book is also very fast paced. The “heroes” are swept from here to there encountering all types of strange people and fantastic places.

2 Intellectual/Emotional: The books focus is to have fun in a magical world. It really doesn’t get too deep.

5 Style/Readability: This is where this book shines. Pratchett’s humor reminds me of Douglas Adams, but has his own style and it is filled with creative ideas that you won’t expect. It is also an extremely easy read.

3 Long Term: It was printed over 25 years ago. I have heard about him for many years and sadly hadn’t read him until now. I sure this book and series will be popular for some time. I certainly intend to read more.



10 out of 13

I feel having a large background in fantasy reading made this even more enjoyable. It takes your view of what is possible in a “Magic Place” and makes fun of it. I think most readers would find this a quick and fun book, but fantasy fans would have even more to enjoy.