Want an uplifting hour-and-a-quarter? Watch this. You've probably heard about it: Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon professor of computer science and expert on virtual reality, gets a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer and gives the talk of literally a lifetime. It's really as good as has been billed.
There is now a book out, also called The Last Lecture, that expands on the speech and amplifies its theme. I bought it, have almost finished it, and recommend it highly. It's about how to live your life, which is of course a cliche. But, as Pausch says, "I love cliches. They're cliches because they're true."
One Amazon.com reviewer, a former hospital chaplain, decries the fact that Randy Pausch didn't spend the book expounding on some deep philosophical revelation brought on by his impending death. He even acknowledges that Randy says the book is about living, not dying. He missed the head fakes.
