After the runaway success of Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson has launched a second volume on the same topic, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Like Three Cups, and indeed, like the author himself, this book is about goodness. Mortenson, who can outdraw Willie Nelson and pack a large arena, explains: “The heart of my presentation always includes the story of promise.”

What's more, he sees his work fostering education and literacy in the hardest-to-reach places on the planet as his “life's calling” and modestly describes himself as “nothing more than a fellow who took a wrong turn in the mountains and never quite managed to find his way home.”

He had set out to climb K2, the infamous Himalayan peak that denied him the summit and sent him disillusioned, cold and on the wrong path back down the mountain, a sojourn that led to a career change from mountaineer to founder of the South Asia Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to building schools. Lost and exhausted, he stumbled upon a villager from Korphe, Pakistan, and wound up being cared for like a native son. His thank you was a vow that he would return and build a school. That was the story of Three Cups of Tea.