Fasting for a Best Seller

By PETER RUGG

Are so few people reading that it has come to this to get them interested?

In what his press release describes as “an effort to encourage the public to read the book Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time,” Steve Oakes is undergoing a three-day fast. Oakes — a circulation associate at the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library — is hoping you will, too. Or at least read the book before March.

The book, now on The New York Times nonfiction paperback best-seller list, is by American nurse Greg Mortensen and writer David Oliver Relin. Near death when he finished his climb up K2, the world’s

Mortensen  

second-tallest mountain, Mortensen was sheltered and nursed back to health in the Pakistani village of Korphe. In return, he promised to build the town’s first school. The school evolved into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Inspired by the book, Oakes decided it would be better to bring Mortensen to Kansas City and start a fast of his own. He hopes others will join in the fast and throw some money at the Institute that they otherwise would have spent on food.

Mortensen is scheduled to present two programs on March 4 regarding the book. Oakes’ fast will start the Saturday before, so hopefully he’ll still be conscious when the author arrives. For more information, click here to e-mail Oakes.