Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Random Reflections XIII: An Inspirational Story

A friend at School told me about this book she was reading recently, called The Last Lecture. Since I am a former academic who once stood in front of students and presented lectures, the book title naturally piqued my curiosity, and so I decided to look it up on the Internet. What I found were links to videos of a few inspirational lectures given by the late Professor Randy Pausch in the last few months of his life.

After viewing the online videos, I felt truly inspired. I think it is good to be reminded every now and again how to live our lives better, to know what the real priorities in life are, to find the strength and courage to do what is difficult, and to persevere when things get tough.

Here is the URL to the videos:
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Should you find yourself in need of inspiration or courage, check it out. I guarantee it will at least make you think about your goals in life and, perhaps, even force you to reflect on your existence.

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Update on 26 April 2009: I finished reading the book The Last Lecture this weekend. I found it quite similar to the lecture (i.e. the video), but it has extra background information about Randy Pausch... The final few chapters of the book made me cry. So, if you're planning to read it, have a box of kleenex ready.