Pausch, Randy and Jeffrey Zaslow. The last Lecture. New York: Hyperion, 2008.
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love
This is a quick little book with pragmatic advice. Written by the late Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture reads fast but is, and I hate to say this, unoriginal. This book was written because the author, Randy Pausch was dying of pancreatic cancer and wanted to document his life for his children. He tells stories of how he met his wife, what his childhood was like, and how he was so successful at work. He offers advice but never gets too deep. It feels insensitive of me to say that I didn’t like this book but it honestly didn’t impress me. The story is written in boring prose and the advice isn’t anything I haven’t heard before.
This is a great thing for Pausch to pass on to his children, but not worth marketing to a larger audience. To me, it seemed like a way to make a lot of money fast. Now don’t get me wrong, Pausch seems like a decent fella and I’m sorry he had to suffer through cancer but, in the realm of literature, this book is a flop.
1.5 darts out of 5
2 comments:
I Agree.
"Last Lecture" was banal and trite.
We're expected to get into the emotion of his terminal condition, but taken as words, there isn't
much profound here.
I graduated from college, and found the Professors ranged from boring to megolomaniacal as lecturers.
They have a captive audience of students, and are never forced to develop.
Randi Pausch exhibits the gamut in "Last Lecture".
In fact, the word "Lecture" is indicative of something you are forced to sit through.
it was a 4 hr intriguing read....u may or may not get pumped up...but u'll gain something out of this....there were some really good insights abt attitude, communication and some some good anecdotes. worth a read!!!!!!
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