I sat down to write my review of “The Last Lecture” on Friday July 25th. Before I started to write, I decided to check Randy Pausch's website for any updates on his condition. He had died that morning at the age of 47. The book, and the lecture itself, now take on new meaning.

For those who aren't aware, Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. The university has a tradition of inviting professors to give a lecture where they pretend that it is their last chanc More...

While this man has a 5-star attitude, I can only give the book two.

yeah, everyone is raving about this guy...
Five star attitude... the author gets diagnosed with terminal cancer. He refers to this as "an engineering problem" (understated and true) has 3-6 months to live, tops. Has 3 small children (ages 6 and under)who will never know him. he was scheduled to give a "last lecture", ya know, how to live your life as if you were dying... (irony) and he writes it in such a way that it's a celebra More...

My review of this book will not be popular, but I must be honest. I'm halfway through this book, and although I appreciate a positive voice, it's really not that interesting or helpful. If I could sum up this book in three words, they would be "yay for me". The author tells us how great his childhood was, then that he accomplished all his childhood dreams, got the girl of his dreams...etc etc etc. It's really not a book how to better your own life, as much as it him telling us how great his life More...

THIS BOOK BLEW ME AWAY!!! Yeah I really won't be able to give a coherent review.

Suffice to say that this is human beings at their best. You might not agree with all of Randy's lessons, but he tells you from the get go that this is what he thinks and he did it all for his kids.

Towards the end I cried because there really isn't another word to describe the whole thing but genuine. The book was published when he was still alive, but I read it when he had already passed away so it was even more hear More...

I was first "introduced" to Mr. Pausch while watching the Oprah show in the fall. My father in law was in the hospital at the time, fighting melanoma that had metastacized to his lungs. Simply stated, I stopped folding clothes and cried so hard during that show. Soon after, the emails began to circulate with links to the last lecture on utube and I watched every link I got and cried even more. I read all the internet articles and was touched every time. When I saw the book was coming out, I jump More...

I think this was one of those books where knowing the criticisms before starting it ultimately upped my enjoyment factor.

Randy Pausch, the author, was one of those people who became wildly popular in 2008 thanks to the internet. He was a popular professor at Carnegie Mellon and was invited to give a “last lecture”, a tradition of sorts where a professor is urged to give a specially prepared lecture as though it were the last s/he were to ever give. And so they are encouraged to break down all t More...

I'm appending this with the review I wrote for my paper: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08097/...

I read this because I am doing continuing coverage on the author, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who is dying of pancreatic cancer and who gave a last lecture that has been viewed on the Web by more than 6 million folks.

For what it is -- essentially an expanded version of the lecture about his life story and his advice on how to live a fulfilling life which can all be read in a sitting -- it More...

It's hard to criticize a dying man. I think this is a great book for his wife, family, children, and friends to read, and although it has some good life lessons that are not revolutionary but do need repeating from time to time, this book is not well written. At points while I was reading I found myself actually disliking Pausch and his way of presenting himself, but then I realized that this would perhaps make me a horrible person. Maybe I am. I very much prefer Tuesdays With Morrie for a simil More...

I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. Perhaps the author's buildup to the ultimate last lecture raised my expectations too high, but I found myself working hard to try to maintain interest as I plowed through a series of anecdotes and trite observations. I suspect I would have enjoyed the book more if he had simply written about his work at the university, but I did not feel a connection to the author, despite his obvious courage in the face of a terminal illness.
I suppose a reader can't More...

It may be that I am particularly sensitive to certain topics, but I didn't enjoy this book. I realize that the author is trying to cram all that he has found to be important in life in 200 pages, which is automatically going to make it seem preachy. Maybe it's that I didn't like what he was preaching. He spent too much time encouraging people to scale brick walls on the paths to their dreams. Then he started describing other people as brick walls and he lost me. Sometimes no means no, and bounda More...

This was a great book with a lot of poignant insights. The best part about it, I feel, is that it led me to think about my own life and the things I value and have experienced. And most of all, it gives inspiration to live life more fully.

"so many will get the chance to say goodbye,BUT It's never too late to think of the value of your life " Randy was trying to tell us that , and he did it in a great way !

It was more than a lecture ! and it's not fair to write a review about this great work .. Actually it was an every day's lecture ..
I was completely in , I cried with him and laughed with him, I was amazed by his courage, faith and pride , I liked how he decided to help his wife in raising the kids after his death .
he was a gre More...

I arrived late to the parade -- sadly, the first I ever heard of Randy Pausch was when his obit ran on CNN.com late last month. The bulk of the story centered around the "last lecture" that made him famous well beyond the halls of the universities where he taught and in the scientific realm.

A few nights later, a guy who took the seat next to me on the train home was reading the book Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow put out based off his lecture. I gave it a few glances out of the corner of my eye and d More...

Pausch, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer when he gave his "last lecture," organizes his message around childhood dreams. Sometimes, we struggle to reach our dreams, and when we do struggle, we hit what Pausch refers to as the "brick wall." He outlines ways of getting around the brick wall, and reminds his audience that it's only there so that people who really want it can climb over it.

So don't give up, and here are some tips to help you along the way...

Not much sense in reviewing a s More...

I enjoyed watching his last lecture, which was extremely touching, but reading this book was even more touching. I actually teared up numerous times while reading it.

As far as I'm concerned, this guy is a hero. He was happy, and yet he achieved so much. He was diagnosed with cancer, and instead of just letting it put him down, it was a motive for him to leave this last lecture, a lasting legacy.

I do recommend that everyone read this book.

I am writing this review with barely 4 hours to go before 2013. I picked this book up to inspire me to face another year. I learned about this book when I took our company-mandated safety leadership training last month. Our corporate safety manager talked highly of this as he related Randy Pausch's very personal experience with what one person's ultimate objective in life, i.e., what should really matter to each of us in the training room.

For those who are not familiar with this 2008 bestselling More...

Really I'd like to give this book 3.5 stars.

I very much like that fact that it is a book basically about being positive and being effective and is by an author exactly unlike the author of the Secret.

I would suffer immensely if I had to read a book (the Secret) about how I should visualize something and then it will happen and that this is a great secret only known to abraham lincoln and some famous ancients, revealed now for the first time to a broader audience. I model that as basically taki More...

This is probably the tiniest book I've ever read - I mean literally it's only slightly longer than my hand and contains little over 200 pages. When I first saw it, I was surprised and asked my mom, "that's it?" to which she responded, "yeah, he wrote the book because people were asking for it, he wanted to spend more time with his family, not writing a book." Of course after hearing that I was like duH! If you have absolutely no clue who Randy Pausch is or have never heard his "last lecture" do More...

I really have mixed feelings about this book. It was a great lecture and legacy for him to leave for his children. As a reader I was a bit put off by the 'tone' of the book. What I mean by 'tone' is, I felt like he was telling me how great he was, which was perfect for a legacy and lecture to his children and those that knew him, it just turned me off of the book.

He had great points and I agree with him on a lot of his advice. I think I would give the book a 3.5 if I could. Personally, it was a More...

I will probably burn in hell--well, okay, suffer a few extra millenia in purgatory, maybe--for only giving this book two stars. It's one of the top gift books of 2008, if you didn't yet view "The Last Lecture" on YouTube you probably heard about it via Oprah or friends or co-workers: a talented computer science prof at Carnegie Mellon with three adorable little toddlers and a loving wife learns he has pancreatic cancer and about six months to live, so he gives a farewell lecture to his students, More...

I saw The Last Lecture on PBS and have seen Randy interviewed on television. He was a telegenic multicaret diamond whose looks, voice, mannerisms and personality sparkle from the screen.
This book is based on his famous "Last Lecture" but it is just a book. A book written using his words, and his photographs, but alas, not possessing the jazzy energy of the man himself. How could it?
I think the book should be sold with a DVD of the actual lecture. (although it is free on YouTube) Randy set a More...

A little bit cocky, irritating and smug; but an easy read. I was a little confused as to how mediocre the book actually was considering the hype that it got. I do admire Pausch's attitude, I could definitely be a heck of a lot more like Tigger, and a shite load less like Eeyore ... but I also find the Tigger types annoying, I always want to slap them. I felt like this whilst reading the book, I admired his bouncy attitude, but it also felt completely unreal and so detached.

I felt as if he prese More...

The full review is available through the following link:
http://bookunderthesun.blogspot.com/2...

As is mentioned on the flap of the book, professors in universities are often asked to present a lecture called "The Last Lecture". They are told to imagine that death is near and this talk will be their last one before leaving the world of the living. What wisdom will they impart?

In the case of Randy Pausch, he did not have to imagine, for he was just diagnosed with terminal cancer - pancreatic cance More...

This book isn't a life changer, but it was amazingly fun and quick to read. Unabashedly, I even shed a couple of tears in the final few chapters. One reason why I enjoyed this book so much is that Randy and I have an extremely similar way of viewing things (what is or isn't important, what's efficient, turning issues into black and white, etc.). He remains optimistically and realistically balanced about his battle with pancreatic cancer while maintaining an tremendous amount of vitality and wit. More...

I know I'm late in the game in reading this book. I kept putting it off but I told myself I was going to read it this year for sure and I'm glad I did.

Pausch uses everyday problems and gives them a whole new meaning. If your not into cliches then the book may get annoying. He says things like 'people are more important than things,' and 'don't sweat the small stuff,' etc. However I am pretty okay with cliches (he loves them by the way).

I think you can take what you want out of this book. Some More...

No doubt Randy Pausch was a nice guy. But this book is smarmy, self-indulgent crap--which is ok given the circumstances under which he gave this lecture. But it is not worth reading.

This is typical 1980's individualistic, unreflective advise on how to succeed in life. Alas, Professor Pausch does not realize that he was born white, male, middle income, in exactly the time in the 20th century where he could avoid confronting WWI, WWII, the depression, Korea, Vietnam, urban riots of the 1960's, the More...

Here is the last lecture of professor Randy Pausch, a terminally ill cancer patient and married father of three young children.

This book, which expands upon the actual lecture viewable on YouTube, is essentially a love letter to his wife & kids. One would need a heart of stone to be unmoved by Mr. Pausch's plight and his earnest desire to express his love for his family. But the "last lecture" (and the book by the same title) is/was a public event. And illness by itself, though it might con More...

At the risk of sounding like a cold-hearted jerk let me preface this by saying how profoundly touched I was when I heard about Randy Pausch's plight. This rating and what I say about his book in no way reflects on the man. No one should ever be dealt the hand that he was. He was in the prime of his life and career when he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer at the age of 46. From that point forward he dedicated what remained of his time to his family and with the task of writing life l More...

This book is written in typical inspirational book format; personal experience followed by general life application. At first I couldn't figure out why it seemed so familiar, but then I realized that all inspirational books eventually reach the same conclusions. Be kind, be happy, serve others, love your family, reach for your dreams, these truths are universal whether you are dying of cancer or just pondering life. That said, Scott commented that I quoted to him more of this book than any other More...