Book Recommendation: The Last Lecture

A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

I got it in the airport on my way to Cabo (Mexico). You know that books in airports tend to be mainstream and not always interesting, so I looked for a pretty short book (150-200 short pages) that I'll be able to complete by the end of the trip. When I saw this small book I decided to check it since it was written by a professor from a known university who is also from computer science, so it may be interesting to me. Then I began to read the intro. and I was afraid that it will be a sad book, not very appropriate to read by the pool, and maybe also a "how to live your life" book, which usually I don't like very much.
But I took it because it was written by...., and it was the best option :)

I'm glad I bought it and read it! It did have a bit of all of the 3 "problems" in it, but together with that, it was a unique and a very inspiring book. Randy, the writer (he didn't really write the book, but this is because he didn't have the time...), was a person that may lived a short life, but has achieved so much in it, as if he'd lived a full life of two people. In the book he sincerely tells about every aspect of his life, and by his examples the reader can be inspired not only regarding one aspect of life, but regarding many of them - personal, family, love life, education, work, friendship, and parenthood.

Read the introduction, and see if it will fit you too -
http://www.hyperionbooks.com/viewer/exviewer_LL.htm

The lecture itself is here -


And here is another review -
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1826574,00.html

If you decide to read it then enjoy, and tell me what you think about it afterwards.

Anyway, remember - "You cannot change the cards you are dealt. Just how you play the hand." I trust you to play it right :)