[personal profile] mabfan
I was reminded by one of my friends that today is the birthday of Louise Brown, the world's first "test-tube" baby. Brown turns 30 years old today, and as has happened before, the news media has gone to interview her. And, as before, Brown always seems bemused by the attention but willing to step into the media spotlight for a few days until they let her go back to her private life.

Brown is a mother now, the child conceived naturally.

Today is also going down in history as the death of Randy Pausch, the author of the best-selling book The Last Lecture. When I first heard of Pausch and his story, I bought a copy of his book and I read it. Often, books of this sort leave me cold; for example, Mitch Albom's books on how we should live our lives meaningfully really don't do anything for me.

But Pausch's book is different. Maybe it's because the guy is leaving behind his three little kids, or maybe it's because the way he delivered his message resonated with me better. But for whatever reason, I found his book inspirational, and I recommend it highly. For those of you who haven't read it, the book is an expansion on his lecture about how to live out your childhood dreams. I think Pausch hit on a lot of things that we tend to forget about when just trying to live our lives day by day.

As a wise man once said, "The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between. But there is still time to seize that one last fragile moment. To choose something better, to make a difference, as you say. And I intend to do just that."

Date: 2008-07-25 04:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jamietr.livejournal.com
Interestingly, I had the same reaction to Mitch Albom's books as you. And I had the same reaction to Randy's book as you describe.

Date: 2008-07-25 07:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madwriter.livejournal.com
I actually got The Last Lecture about a month ago--but haven't read it yet. In fact it's still sitting in my desk at work. As I realized when I read the notice of his death earlier this afternoon. I should get on that.

December 2016

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526 2728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 5th, 2025 04:35 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios