Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

Randy Pausch is many things: witty, funny, kind, compassionate, smart, and charming. He is also a father, a brother, a son, a dad, someone’s cousin, and a pretty amusing uncle. Randy Pausch is also a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. And now, Randy Pausch is fighting pancreatic cancer. Before his now infamous lecture and book, he was told that he had about 3-6 months of good health left-a devasting diagnosis for anyone, but perhaps the absolute worst fear come true for a father of three small children. (You see, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is almost a death sentence in itself; normally by the time it is detected it has spread beyond the point of being able to salvage a person’s life). Does Randy Pausch curl up in a ball and cry his remaining good months away? Sometimes. But he also does more living in his last good months than most do in their lifetime (as evidenced on his documentary that has aired repeatedly on ABC).

Now onto the book. All professors at Carnegie Mellon are asked to put together an hour long lecture of their wisom- basically a way to leave your legacy behind (when that fateful day shall come). However, when Randy Pausch is asked to do his lecture, he already knows that he has pancreatic cancer and therefore knows his lecture will probably be his last impact left on this world. Randy gave his “last lecture” in September of 2007, and his book that followed “The Last Lecture” encompasses many points of his lecture with some side notes and facts that weren’t talked about. The book is pretty small (207 pages to be exact) and a fairly quick and easy read. Just a note, if you know anything about Randy or his lecture, then you know the passion and enthusiasm he has for life. With that said, the audio version of the book is not narrated by him, so I wouldn’t recommend it because it almost lacks the passion by being voiced by someone else. If anything, watch the lecture and then read the book because then you can almost hear him speaking the words to you as you read. I don’t think this book is worth purchasing or reading if you haven't seen at least some of his lecture (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo).

This book covers everything from how he grew up (being allowed to paint his own walls with whatever he wants) to how he met his wife ( she was a student in one of his lectures) to how cool of an uncle was (when his niece and nephew got in his new car and were afraid of spilling anything he dumped a whole soda in it). Overall it sums up to be small stories with little life lessons, for example in the aforementioned soda in the car incident, he was trying to show how unimportant material things are.

Randy Pausch has an amazing outlook on life and death, and I promise you this book will move you to tears. I would recommend this book to any and everyone of all ages and background. It is part of an amazing legacy left behind by an amazing man