One
Last week, the world of literary non-fiction was rocked hard when the book that I had glowingly reviewed was deemed to be full of lies.
Jon Krakauer, author of Into The Wild even wrote a 75-page ebook titled Three Cups of Deceit, which has supposedly revealed the fradulent facts in the said book.. which is none other than, if you haven't guessed already, Three Cups of Tea.
If I am allowed to be narcisstic here, some of you-my small group of readers might remember how obsessed i was with Into The Wild and the story of Chris McCandless, both the book and the movie, and hence I regard Jon Krakauer quite highly. This slander towards Greg Mortensen from a fellow mountaineer who has gained credibility through his journeys and books, certainly puts much emphasis on how these allegations should be taken seriously. He used to be a supporter of Mortenson's cause and donated large sums to the charity but has stopped since 2002.
Mortensen has created such a wonderful impression on me, with his noble and philantropic work (building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote education for girls as a way to fight extremism), that I would be truly saddened if the scandal is proved to be true.
Some of the facts that are said to be non-truths:
-He didn't get lost during his descent from the failed attempt to climb K2
-He didn't discover Korphe village until a year after the failed expedition
-He wasn't captured by the Taliban in South Waziristan, infact he was in a district called Laddha (or Laddah) and treated very well
Some other allegations:
-He treated Central Asia Institute (CAI)'s fund like his private ATM machine
-Not all the schools that he claimed to build were actually built by CAI
-Some schools are empty/have no students/being used as storage space instead
-Some schools have not been receiving funds for a few years now
I am clearly disheartened and disillusioned with these alleged findings, but yet I find it hard to believe that all of it is true. There's two sides to a coin, and until a full investigation is being carried out, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if the allegations turn out to be true, I would still think he did way more good than bad and his work should not be discredited totally.. what he's done, despite of the bad (if true), is much much more than any of us could ever dream of doing.
However, I definitely will be reading Stones in School (his 2nd book) with a slightly cynical mindset now. A friend once told me that I am too idealistic for my own good (this was like 7 years ago). I was first shocked to hear such a comment, because I didn't think I was. But as time passed, I realized what he said is quite true. I tend to believe that everything is always nice and rosy, what you see is what you get (in other words, aku ni lurus bendul selalu tak nampak menda tersirat/underlying deceits). But I think I've progressed in thinking critically and not just believing everything I read or hear. But these findings against Mortenson is such a huge blow to me, and everybody else in the world who's aware of CAI's work, I suppose.
Two
A few months ago I read about The Last Lecture given by a dying CMU professor a few years back that was so profound that it moved people to tears and affected many lives, in a good way. The lecture was so impactful that a book version of it was published. So when I saw a friend reading it a few weeks back, I just had to borrow it from her. I had high hopes for the book, and brought it to read during my trip to India. First chapters in, and already I resented the guy, Randy Pausch. He appeared to me as a very arrogant person. Granted, the things and lessons that he conveyed were good and insightful, all his advice is worth listening to, the principals of life that he has adhered should be followed. But the profoundness of the message was overshadowed by how arrogant I thought (and still think) he was. But then again, after reading reviews by others, I find myself to be all alone here, nobody else thinks Randy Pausch is arrogant. So I watched his lecture on youtube. All the things in the book was a direct copy of the lecture, maybe with more words and explanations. In the lecture, he didn't seem that arrogant, but still there's a little hint of it that I detected (my friend actually cried watching the lecture). But to be fair, at least he did not deceive anybody with false facts (unlike Mortenson, allegedly). So the lesson to be learnt here, just because I don't like someone's tune in his/her writing, doesn't mean I should discredit the message/story.
Last week, the world of literary non-fiction was rocked hard when the book that I had glowingly reviewed was deemed to be full of lies.
Jon Krakauer, author of Into The Wild even wrote a 75-page ebook titled Three Cups of Deceit, which has supposedly revealed the fradulent facts in the said book.. which is none other than, if you haven't guessed already, Three Cups of Tea.
If I am allowed to be narcisstic here, some of you-my small group of readers might remember how obsessed i was with Into The Wild and the story of Chris McCandless, both the book and the movie, and hence I regard Jon Krakauer quite highly. This slander towards Greg Mortensen from a fellow mountaineer who has gained credibility through his journeys and books, certainly puts much emphasis on how these allegations should be taken seriously. He used to be a supporter of Mortenson's cause and donated large sums to the charity but has stopped since 2002.
Mortensen has created such a wonderful impression on me, with his noble and philantropic work (building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote education for girls as a way to fight extremism), that I would be truly saddened if the scandal is proved to be true.
Some of the facts that are said to be non-truths:
-He didn't get lost during his descent from the failed attempt to climb K2
-He didn't discover Korphe village until a year after the failed expedition
-He wasn't captured by the Taliban in South Waziristan, infact he was in a district called Laddha (or Laddah) and treated very well
Some other allegations:
-He treated Central Asia Institute (CAI)'s fund like his private ATM machine
-Not all the schools that he claimed to build were actually built by CAI
-Some schools are empty/have no students/being used as storage space instead
-Some schools have not been receiving funds for a few years now
I am clearly disheartened and disillusioned with these alleged findings, but yet I find it hard to believe that all of it is true. There's two sides to a coin, and until a full investigation is being carried out, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if the allegations turn out to be true, I would still think he did way more good than bad and his work should not be discredited totally.. what he's done, despite of the bad (if true), is much much more than any of us could ever dream of doing.
However, I definitely will be reading Stones in School (his 2nd book) with a slightly cynical mindset now. A friend once told me that I am too idealistic for my own good (this was like 7 years ago). I was first shocked to hear such a comment, because I didn't think I was. But as time passed, I realized what he said is quite true. I tend to believe that everything is always nice and rosy, what you see is what you get (in other words, aku ni lurus bendul selalu tak nampak menda tersirat/underlying deceits). But I think I've progressed in thinking critically and not just believing everything I read or hear. But these findings against Mortenson is such a huge blow to me, and everybody else in the world who's aware of CAI's work, I suppose.
Two
A few months ago I read about The Last Lecture given by a dying CMU professor a few years back that was so profound that it moved people to tears and affected many lives, in a good way. The lecture was so impactful that a book version of it was published. So when I saw a friend reading it a few weeks back, I just had to borrow it from her. I had high hopes for the book, and brought it to read during my trip to India. First chapters in, and already I resented the guy, Randy Pausch. He appeared to me as a very arrogant person. Granted, the things and lessons that he conveyed were good and insightful, all his advice is worth listening to, the principals of life that he has adhered should be followed. But the profoundness of the message was overshadowed by how arrogant I thought (and still think) he was. But then again, after reading reviews by others, I find myself to be all alone here, nobody else thinks Randy Pausch is arrogant. So I watched his lecture on youtube. All the things in the book was a direct copy of the lecture, maybe with more words and explanations. In the lecture, he didn't seem that arrogant, but still there's a little hint of it that I detected (my friend actually cried watching the lecture). But to be fair, at least he did not deceive anybody with false facts (unlike Mortenson, allegedly). So the lesson to be learnt here, just because I don't like someone's tune in his/her writing, doesn't mean I should discredit the message/story.
3 comments:
aku pun disappointed giler pasal berita mortenson tu...
oh biar betui aku ni dah mcm die hard fan greg mortenson dah. Read the second book, Stones into Schools, mg banyak sgt sekolah dia build, sampai at what point rasa mcm too good to be true and nak maintain lagi tuh, not an easy job to do but he did sounds that everythings under control. Well, don't know what to say at this point. Keep us posted if you found something. Eh I read Raundy Pausch book like last last year when he was still alive, at that time didnt know he was still alive thought he was dead. Teruk betul, anyway just wondering at what point you found him arrogant. The way he wrote?
Phat, we really have to hang out soon, just saying 'Uzbek' makes me super excited..
weh R...is that you Ani??? I don't believe everything the media says about Mortenson, nor do i refute all that they report. however I did wonder about how CAI's expenses would increase exponentially with the number of schools he built while reading the book, it was a passing thought, probably David Relin didn't think it matter to the storyline.
On Pausch, spot on laaa, it was the way he wrote it. And when in one of the chapters he talked about how his mentor Andy said he was arrogant and a jerk.. it pretty much confirmed what I thought about him from the start!
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