Writing a Memoir, Writing a Biography | Write Your Memoir

I was recently contacted by Shawn Nicholls, the on-line publicist at William Morrow. William Morrow is the publisher of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. Because I had reviewed Three Cups of Tea, Shawn asked me if I would review The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

I’m glad I said yes.

William Kamkwamba grew up in Masitala village, a small village near the city of Kasungu, in Malawi. Poverty, lack of resources, back-breaking work, and a corrupt government were the everyday realities in William’s life. On their own, they would have been enough to break anyone, but on top of them, William also faced drought, famine, and starvation. His dog starved to death, as did at least one of his classmates. There so little to eat, villagers ate maize husks left in the dirt.

And yet, William pursued his dream of building a windmill to create electricity. He was a self-taught tinkerer who repaired radios, and an avid reader. He devoured Explaining Physics, which he borrowed from a small local lending library. With an insatiable drive and an avid desire to learn, but with very little help from anyone else, he eventually built the windmill, which supplies electricity to his family and village. Thist accomplishment may not sound like much, but in Malawi, only 2% of the population has electricity. And William was born in 1988, so he’s only in his 20s.

An old philosophical debate asks the question: are we living in the best of all possible worlds or the worst of all possible worlds? I like to think, as Adin Steinsaltz has said, that we are living in the worst of all possible worlds in which there is still hope. This book is about being inventive in nearly impossible circumstances. It will inspire you. I highly recommend it.

Check out the May 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping. In “Teach a Girl, Change the World,” Judith Stone writes about Three Cups of Tea, the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea is the story of how Mortenson has built schools for girls in Pakistan. Three Cups of Tea has sold more than two million copies and has been on the Publishers Weekly trade paperback bestseller list for more than 84 weeks.

On January 23, 2009, Greg Mortenson and his 12-year old daughter, Amira, spoke in my town—Montville, New Jersey—at the Robert R. Lazar Middle School. In “Mortenson Shares His Message” in Neighbor News, Lisa Kintish reports that Mortenson asked the middle school kids how many of them had talked to their grandparents about The Depression, World War II, Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement. It’s usually only 10%. Our kids fared better (15%). But in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 90% of the kids raise their hands. The elders go to the schools and share their stories. “It’s a tragedy in our great country that we lost that,” says Mortenson.

Everyone’s stories are a treasure. Have you shared one today?

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/real/education-for-girls?click=main_sr

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6656909.html

http://www.theneighbornews.com/NC/0/2271.html

http://www.montville.net/lazar/mediacenter/

Look for Mortenson’s follow-up book, Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in December 2009.

Photo credit: www.robturner.co.uk