It seems disrespecful to diss The Last Lecture, a book written by a father of three young children and professor at CMU who was told he would die shortly of pancreatic cancer (and has since died) and wanted to leave behind a tangible memento to his family. I am told that the actual last lecture, which was videotaped is very inspiring.
The book is not. Randy Pausch comes across in turns as arrogant (which he says he “used to be” — what must that had been like?) and naive, with would-be inspiring sections such as “Tell the Truth”. The book is assembled from converations Randy Pausch had with his ghost-writer, and I imagine under heavy time pressure, and it shows. Read something else.
FT's Books 