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 taking some true observation (that being positive about things and trying to achieve them makes success more likely) and wrapping all sorts of untrue stuff around that observation. but I guess I should refrain from further slagging a book I haven't read. Back to the Last Lecture...

I very much prefer to read some of the same thoughts (plus additional ones) from a computer scientist who is constantly doing utility calculations in his head. for better or for worse, that is exactly the person I am liable to trust advice from.

a lot of the advice is kinda generic (although still true, and still somewhat helpful to put it back on top of the brain stick), like "people like it when you write thank-you letters" and "if you really want to do something, try really hard to accomplish it and don't give up easily."

The part that struck a chord most with me was that he thought people dramatically underestimated the value of being able to accurately assess themselves, and hence didn't train people for it (e.g. over-praising kids on everything so they can't tell what is actually good work or not), didn't habitually provide people enough feedback so they had more data to improve themselves with, etc. I thought that was good advice.

Also the author was just a charismatic guy and it was a fun read. And the part about leaving his wife/kids behind when he died and trying to give them some of himself though this book was well done in the book and very sad (the situation that is; what he was doing through the book and the lecture was good).