Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Outstanding Read

Because Randy Pausch has been on TV, YouTube and all over the news and internet, you may already have heard of him. He's almost 50 years old, a former resident of Pittsburgh, PA, a PhD and former Disney Imagineer. So far, he really doesn't sound like a remarkable guy. But he is, I promise you. Randy is dying of pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to his other internal organs. Early this year the doctors gave him 3-6 months to live in good health (I assume the use of the word good was relative in Randy's case). Anyhow, Carnegie Mellon U in Pittsbrugh (where Randy was a tenured professor) asked Randy to do a "Last Lecture." So he did.

The lecture made the news almost immediately, and portions of it are all over YouTube and the rest of the internet. Randy did a spot on Diane Sawyer in mid-March, and I think a lot of people tuned into that documentary. Along with portions of his 90 minute lecture, Randy spoke candidly with Diane about dying from (and mostly about living with)cancer.

The companion to his last lecture is the book, The Last Lecture. It's not a thick book, and most of what it contains is about living out your childhood dreams. It souds hokey, and I suppose in one way, it is very cliched. But it's an excellent book. Even though nothing that Randy said was revolutionary, it was like reading it for the first time. I HIGHLY recommend this book - take your time with it and absorb what Randy has to say. And then say a prayer that Randy beats the odds, and that his wife and kids have many more months and years with him.

1 comment:

Visichy said...

Cool. I'll keep an eye out for it.