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Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch (Professor, Carnegie Mellon) with Jeffrey Zaslow

'We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.'

- Randy Pausch



A lot of professors give talks titled 'The Last Lecture'. Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?



When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Caregie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams' - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because 'time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think'). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humour, inspiration, and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

Video of 'last lecture' available on www.thelastlecture.com

Randy Pausch's mantra in life : The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Chickenfeed - Minette Walters

About The Novel

A body is found in a chicken run...

Based on the true story of the chicken farm murder , which took place at Blackness, Crowborough, East Sussex in December 1924.

Norman Thorne was found guilty of the murder of Elsie Cameron, but even at the time of his execution there were doubts about his guilt.

Still swearing his innocence, Norman Thorne was hanged on 22 April 1925.

Bestselling author Minette Walters brings a thrilling story to life in this gripping novel.

About The Author

With her debut novel, The Ice House, Minette Walters won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Award for the best first crime novel of 1992. Quickly building a reputation as one of the most exciting crime novelists writing today, her next ten novels were all published to critical acclaim. Many of them have been awarded prizes, including two CWA Gold Daggers for best crime novel of the year. Minette's books are popular throughout the world and have been published in over thirty countries.

The List Of Books/Novels Read By Me In The Year 2008

(1) Chickenfeed - Minette Walters (Fiction) - The No. 1 Bestseller

(2) The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch (Professor, Carnegie Mellon) with Jeffrey Zaslow - The No. 1 Bestseller

(3) The Alchemist (A Magical Fable About Following Your Dream) - Paulo Coelho (Fiction) - The International Bestseller