Renaissance Granddad:Looking Back - Moving Forward

So last Saturday, while my wife was at an Antiques appraisal in Beverly, I dropped off the last few boxes of clothes and Christmas decorations of my mother’s at Goodwill. Now I can’t go to Goodwill without check out the used books. I took a quick look through the books and picked up The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry, an early Cotton Mather book, a couple of others look ok. Then I looked up at the sign that said Books 4 for $ 1.00 ok I have to look a little more closely now. After the second look I found three more hardback books. Monster by Frank Peretti, an interesting horror book that I think I’ve looked at in the past in the Bargain Books at Barnes and Noble, Jacksdaws by Ken Follett because I know my wife likes Ken Follett. Of course, I bring it home and the first thing my wife says is “Is there Sex in it? No one writes sex scenes better than Ken Follett” Soon she’s reading away. Me: “You found one?” K: “yes, page 242!”  The last book that I picked up was Stones into Schools:Promoting Peace with books, not bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. Now I have seen Three Cups of Tea but never took the time to see what it was about – mistake.  The book is about Mortenson’s quest to build a school in Korphe, Pakistan. Three cups of tea refers to a Balti saying “The first cup of tea you share with us, you are a stranger. The second cup of tea, you are a friend. But with the third cup of tea, you become family – and for our family we are willing to do anything, even die”  I love it!   Stones into Schools picks up where the earlier book ends in 2003 and traces Mortenson and his non-profit Central Asia Institutes’ efforts to work in a whole new country, the northeast corner of Pakistan. Read More