The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch



I was not expecting much, but it got to me in a big way. I laughed, I cried, I told my wife she should read it.

Everyone said The Last Lecture was fantastic. There were news programs about Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture. There's a billboard sponsored by the Foundation for a Better Life near my local library that extols his positive virtues ("Wrote a book on living while he was dying").

But, I refused to read the book. Why? I guess I am just stubborn. A friend of mine had the book on her table and I asked her if it was any good. Yes - she plowed through it in no time and she's really not a reader. She lent it to me and I was off.

Even then, I let it sit for a couple of weeks. But, once I got into it I was absorbed into it. It is a well-written, laugh-out-loud funny, big-tears-rolling-down-your-face sad, happy, poignant and sweet book. I called my friend when I was done and told her she should have told me that I was going to cry at the end of this book. She said, "I told you!" "Yeah, but I didn't know you meant it!"

Randy Pausch delivering his
last lecture on September 18, 2007
In case you are curious, the title of the book comes from a tradition at Carnegie Mellon University in which professors give a simulated last lecture - a lecture that would try to impart the wisdom they have gleaned to others if this were the last lecture they were to give in their life. For Pausch, this happened to be true. He makes the most of it.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

You can see his actual last lecture here on youtube: the last lecture.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Reviewed on August 15, 2010.

Comments

Popular posts over the last 30 days

MARCH: BOOK ONE (graphic novel) by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

THE KINGDOM, the POWER, and THE GLORY: AMERICAN EVANGELICALS in an AGE of EXTREMISM (audiobook) by Tim Alberta

TIRED of WINNING: DONALD TRUMP and the END of the GRAND OLD PARTY (audiobook) by Jonathan Karl

DARK of the MOON (Virgil Flowers #1)(audiobook)(abridged) by John Sandford

BASS REEVES: TALES of the TALENTED TENTH, no. 1 by Joel Christian Gill

THE MAGA DIARIES: MY SURREAL ADVENTURES INSIDE THE RIGHT-WING (and HOW I GOT OUT) (audiobook) by Tina Nguyen

THE PARANOID STYLE in AMERICAN POLITICS and OTHER ESSAYS by Richard Hofstadter

Flameout: The Rise and Fall of Burger Chef by John P. McDonald

PROHIBITION in the UNITED STATES: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

KING HENRY VII: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (BIOGRAPHIES of BRITISH ROYALTY) by Hourly History