The Last Lecture

 Have you read this book? Well, I just finished it… and I thought it was GREAT! I bought the book 6 or so months ago, but because of graduate school reading, I put it on my shelf and forgot about it. Well, because I read too much when I’m not in school I ran out of books to read! So, I searched my shelf for something to re-read while my mom read Push (a book I ordered from Amazon but let my mom read first). So, as I’m perusing my bookshelf, this book catches my eye. It was like Christmas morning to find a book in MY HOUSE that I haven’t read! So… Of course I read it (DUH). I’ve heard a couple of professors give a “Last Lecture”. Usually it goes something like, “fulfill your dreams, you can do it, I’m awesome, and I quit!” So, I didn’t have too high expectations for the book. I honestly bought it because it was so popular (SO LAME, I know!) Now that I am finished with the book I can see WHY it is so popular. Randy Pausch was an amazing man. It was painful to read knowing this poor guy died of a painful, incurable cancer. He left behind a wife and 3 SMALL children, but he also left behind a lot more! His views on “childhood dreams” is magical. It makes me remember all of the things I wanted to be when I “grew up”. Still today I have small dreams of who I want to be or what I want to do… but why can’t I do them? A little hope and a lot of hard work, and I can make it! This guy is a cheerleader for a lot of people, including me! Some parts of the book are technical, funny, and sad… and I wanted to cry at the end for his children that will never know him… but I also had to be happy that he could leave an important message before he left this world. I KNOW this is a SUPER sappy post, but really… Sometimes I need little reminders that my life could SUCK so much worse. I need to be thankful for my family, health, education, and dreams. I need to live because so many people die too young. I don’t want to waste my precious time being depressed or glum… because some people don’t have a chance to achieve all the things I want to!

I’m not going to say that this is the BEST book I’ve ever read… it isn’t…. but it is a book that will stick with me. I give it 7.5/10 (but it probably deserves a 9 on the emotional scale) :) So, I do recommend this book… and not just because it’s popular!!