Two events tonight. First, Greg Mortenson is reading at the Royal Brougham Pavilion today. The Three Cups of Tea author is reading from his new book, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. My new intern, J.T. Oldfield, has compiled a list of reasons to and reasons to not read this book. Here are her lists:

Reasons to read this book:

• You read Three Cups of Tea and you want to know about what Greg Mortenson has been doing the last few years.
• You did not read Three Cups of Tea, and this embarrasses you because it was on the New York Times Bestseller list for three year, and you feel people judge you by your reading habits.
• You are an officer in counterinsurgency training at the Pentagon, and since Three Cups of Tea is required reading, you want to suck up to your commanders by reading this one, too..
• You are going to be deployed to Afghanistan.
• You want to know what you, one little person in this big wide world can do to help female literacy rates in Pakistan and Afghanistan (the book has a “Take Action” section in the back).
• You want to have that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing that someone has his head on right when it comes to fighting terrorism.

Reasons not read this book:

• You avoid clichés and cannot get through a sentimental book.
• You are unable to imagine the terrain and settings (a very important key to this story) due to lackluster descriptions.
• You are trying to find a book for your book club, and since there are no discussion questions in the back, you feel you will not be able to effectively lead a discussion.
• You are a cold-hearted bastard and do not care about the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• You are a cold-hearted bastard and believe that we should promote peace with bombs, not books, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Thanks to J.T. Oldfield.

And then, at Third Place Books tonight, Langdon Cook reads from his book Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager. I do not have a list for this book.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you're planning on staying in and you're looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.