The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch (with Jeffrey Zaslow)
My first exposure to this book was when a customer came in and asked about it because she had seen it on Oprah. Tom didn't know what it was, so I had to research both the name of the book and the author's name, because the customer was, as usual, unhelpful. ("I'm looking for that book that was written by that guy about that thing...")
Several months later, a friend of mine bought it and, through unexpected circumstances, found himself with quite a bit of free time to sit and read. He recommended it to me, saying it was the only book that made him cry. I borrowed it. I read it. I cried.
The story is that Carnegie Mellon holds a series of lectures every year in which professors are asked to imagine that it is the last lecture they will ever give. In this unique situation, it really WAS the last lecture Mr. Pausch would be giving. As the organizers and public relations promoters sent final warning emails to the lecturers to send a definite "yes, I'll be speaking on... " RSVP to them, Mr. Pausch was receiving the news that his cancer had metastasized and "there is nothing else modern medicine can do."
When the video of the lecture went viral on the internet, Mr. Pausch put together a book containing the contents of his lecture, in addition to his thoughts and reasoning behind what he had chosen to say to his final audience.
The concept was essentially, "Live life to the fullest because you could die tomorrow." Cliched, I know. But at the same time, he said so many little things, that all fit into the main theme, which were not as cliched. They were things like: "do everything you can to achieve your childhood dreams," "if you don't achieve a dream, you should still make it mean something," "phrase your words in a positive light even if you don't work in retail," "don't focus on things but on how you enjoy your things with the people important to you." Granted, many of the ideas are still cliched, just not as much as the first. But in this book, I found all the reminders of how we all should be living our lives. It sometimes just takes a dying man to remind us of those things we already know.
Speaking of cliches, Mr. Pausch believes in them wholeheartedly. Chapter 38 begins, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try a cliche." His reasoning is that even if the phrase has been around forever, most people don't know its cliched, and if they do, its because the cliche is right most of the time. The best part of this book is that some of the great quotable lines come from Mr. Pausch himself, and if it is important to him, he says it twice or more throughout the book. (And in case you are wondering, 38 is not a daunting number. The chapters are short.)
I recommend this book to anyone who is a sappy romantic or who lost a father, anyone who wants to appreciate their father more, anyone who needs a little reminder for where they are or should be heading in life, anyone who collects interesting quotes or anecdotes, and anyone who likes reading about scientists, intellectual thinkers, or teachers.
Incidentally, this book made me discover that you can learn a lot about someone by the books they reccommend you read.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Faith of My Fathers
Faith of My Fathers, by John McCain (with Mark Salter)
I have not read very many memoirs or biographies of political figures. I have very little experience in the topic, "Life Stories of Politicians." I do not know if this book should rank highest of its kind, or even whether or not there ARE others of its kind. However, I did enjoy the book quite a bit.
This is a book that gives the reader an idea of where John McCain's life stands in relation to the lives of other members on his family tree. The son and grandson of four-star admirals, he has a lot to live up to. He also describes the martial history of many of his ancestors. One of my father's hobbies is genealogy, so I can appreciate the many hours that Senator McCain would have to put into gathering all that information. I know the names of one or two family members older than my grandfathers who served in some war or another but I could not tell you with any certainty what their accomplishments were, or whether they died in service or died long after the war was over. It struck me that the amount of genealogical research involved was almost as impressive as the list of military deeds dating back hundreds of years.
Also interesting to note is the Senator's humility. The book seems to be written from the point of view of an old man who is looking back at his life and reflecting that his actions were stupid, but that long-term regret is a waste of time. Better to regret things just enough that you do something to right the wrong you've done, but not to pine away forever about it. Despite the appearance of looking back on his life, its good to know that he is still alive ten years after writing the book and can now add "running for president" to his list of accomplishments.
During the presidential campaign this year, I noticed that Mr. McCain didn't seem to be phased by all the criticism regarding his choices or his beliefs. Some of the others in the political light tried to defend themselves regarding the question of experience, expertise, or what they believe. McCain seemed unapologetic, and rubbed it in the faces of his detractors by unapologetically picking Sarah Palin for a running mate. After reading the book, I now understand that that is simply his nature. He was not popular at the Naval Academy for refusing to submit to hazing. He tells the story that just before graduating from the Academy he had the opportunity to perform a complicated procedure linking two warships traveling at full speed, and did it without batting an eye. As a POW, he spoke his mind to his captors often during his five year captivity and was punished for it. Some could call it being pigheaded, others might say he was standing up for what he believed, and others might say he was just stupid. But the one thing that came across the strongest to me in his book is that whether his actions led to failure or to success, he did not care what people would say to him or do to him if he did them.
The one exception to that is his regard for his father. There is a story about when the Vietnamese tortured him so much that he broke, and signed a propaganda confession of his war crimes so that everyone would know that the son of an admiral thought America was the bad guy. The primary thing on his mind was not about what the other POWs thought or what the reporters would say, but "Does my father know? Will he ever talk to me again?" I find this interesting because it shows the contrast between the world in which Mr. McCain grew up and the world today. The role of fathers today has been undercut. People now do things regardless of the consequences to their family, to their friends, or even to themselves.
Another indication that the world McCain grew up in has changed is the concept of honor. In the several chapters on his time in Vietnam, we see that he followed the POW honor code (obedience to the highest commanding officer in captivity, refusing release until those captured first are released, refusing actions that will dishonor the US, refusing actions that will bring harm to a fellow POW). This is interesting to me because I know of very few people anymore who will make self-sacrificing decisions. I am not talking about your run-of-the-mill, driving your kids to dance practice and soccer games at the expense of your time. It does not mean taking some time out of your day to listen to the awful day your friend had. I am talking about decisions that will cost you your life or serious bodily harm for someone else's benefit. This kind of thing no longer happens, and to me, it makes the book a tribute to something I may see only very rarely in my lifetime.
One major problem I had with the book is that it was not organized. I love order. When you start telling me a story, you need to start at the beginning. I felt that the events in the book stood alone on little islands and instead of having a plan, I was in a little rowboat passing all the islands one by one, but not in any particular order. In my mind, it resembles the little black dotted path taken by Billy from The Family Circus when he is out playing in the yard.
This book started with the abbreviated life history of John Sidney McCain, Senior. Then it went to the even more brief story of his brother, Bill. We then go back in time to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the union of the McCains with the Youngs in 1877, a brief reference to Queen Mary of Scotland 300 years earlier, and then a gradual progression in time mentioning notable relatives, their accomplishments, and in what capacity and war they fought.
This same time travel issue is also evident in his descriptions of the Vietnam War. Each chapter in the section after his account of being shot down, appears to have a vague topic, rather than describing the events of a particular year in the order they occurred. Thus, the reader can learn something about the order in which McCain recieved news of the outside world chronologically and then in the next chapter we go back in time to learn about the quality of the various camps he was in (chronologically), and later go back in time again and learn that when he was in "the Zoo" something we learned about two chapters ago occurred, and when he was moved to "the Plantation" that other thing happened.
While this makes it more of a challenging read, it also gives the illusion of chatting with Mr. McCain himself and listening to him remember things about his life. People write books in chronological order. They recount their memories almost at random, as their brains bring the story to mind. So in that sense, it is definitely, without a doubt, a memoir.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in Vietnam War history, anyone interested in genealogy, anyone interested in the stories of POWs, anyone who claims they voted FOR McCain and not just AGAINST Obama, and anyone who wants to appreciate their father or forefathers.
I have not read very many memoirs or biographies of political figures. I have very little experience in the topic, "Life Stories of Politicians." I do not know if this book should rank highest of its kind, or even whether or not there ARE others of its kind. However, I did enjoy the book quite a bit.
This is a book that gives the reader an idea of where John McCain's life stands in relation to the lives of other members on his family tree. The son and grandson of four-star admirals, he has a lot to live up to. He also describes the martial history of many of his ancestors. One of my father's hobbies is genealogy, so I can appreciate the many hours that Senator McCain would have to put into gathering all that information. I know the names of one or two family members older than my grandfathers who served in some war or another but I could not tell you with any certainty what their accomplishments were, or whether they died in service or died long after the war was over. It struck me that the amount of genealogical research involved was almost as impressive as the list of military deeds dating back hundreds of years.
Also interesting to note is the Senator's humility. The book seems to be written from the point of view of an old man who is looking back at his life and reflecting that his actions were stupid, but that long-term regret is a waste of time. Better to regret things just enough that you do something to right the wrong you've done, but not to pine away forever about it. Despite the appearance of looking back on his life, its good to know that he is still alive ten years after writing the book and can now add "running for president" to his list of accomplishments.
During the presidential campaign this year, I noticed that Mr. McCain didn't seem to be phased by all the criticism regarding his choices or his beliefs. Some of the others in the political light tried to defend themselves regarding the question of experience, expertise, or what they believe. McCain seemed unapologetic, and rubbed it in the faces of his detractors by unapologetically picking Sarah Palin for a running mate. After reading the book, I now understand that that is simply his nature. He was not popular at the Naval Academy for refusing to submit to hazing. He tells the story that just before graduating from the Academy he had the opportunity to perform a complicated procedure linking two warships traveling at full speed, and did it without batting an eye. As a POW, he spoke his mind to his captors often during his five year captivity and was punished for it. Some could call it being pigheaded, others might say he was standing up for what he believed, and others might say he was just stupid. But the one thing that came across the strongest to me in his book is that whether his actions led to failure or to success, he did not care what people would say to him or do to him if he did them.
The one exception to that is his regard for his father. There is a story about when the Vietnamese tortured him so much that he broke, and signed a propaganda confession of his war crimes so that everyone would know that the son of an admiral thought America was the bad guy. The primary thing on his mind was not about what the other POWs thought or what the reporters would say, but "Does my father know? Will he ever talk to me again?" I find this interesting because it shows the contrast between the world in which Mr. McCain grew up and the world today. The role of fathers today has been undercut. People now do things regardless of the consequences to their family, to their friends, or even to themselves.
Another indication that the world McCain grew up in has changed is the concept of honor. In the several chapters on his time in Vietnam, we see that he followed the POW honor code (obedience to the highest commanding officer in captivity, refusing release until those captured first are released, refusing actions that will dishonor the US, refusing actions that will bring harm to a fellow POW). This is interesting to me because I know of very few people anymore who will make self-sacrificing decisions. I am not talking about your run-of-the-mill, driving your kids to dance practice and soccer games at the expense of your time. It does not mean taking some time out of your day to listen to the awful day your friend had. I am talking about decisions that will cost you your life or serious bodily harm for someone else's benefit. This kind of thing no longer happens, and to me, it makes the book a tribute to something I may see only very rarely in my lifetime.
One major problem I had with the book is that it was not organized. I love order. When you start telling me a story, you need to start at the beginning. I felt that the events in the book stood alone on little islands and instead of having a plan, I was in a little rowboat passing all the islands one by one, but not in any particular order. In my mind, it resembles the little black dotted path taken by Billy from The Family Circus when he is out playing in the yard.
This book started with the abbreviated life history of John Sidney McCain, Senior. Then it went to the even more brief story of his brother, Bill. We then go back in time to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the union of the McCains with the Youngs in 1877, a brief reference to Queen Mary of Scotland 300 years earlier, and then a gradual progression in time mentioning notable relatives, their accomplishments, and in what capacity and war they fought.
This same time travel issue is also evident in his descriptions of the Vietnam War. Each chapter in the section after his account of being shot down, appears to have a vague topic, rather than describing the events of a particular year in the order they occurred. Thus, the reader can learn something about the order in which McCain recieved news of the outside world chronologically and then in the next chapter we go back in time to learn about the quality of the various camps he was in (chronologically), and later go back in time again and learn that when he was in "the Zoo" something we learned about two chapters ago occurred, and when he was moved to "the Plantation" that other thing happened.
While this makes it more of a challenging read, it also gives the illusion of chatting with Mr. McCain himself and listening to him remember things about his life. People write books in chronological order. They recount their memories almost at random, as their brains bring the story to mind. So in that sense, it is definitely, without a doubt, a memoir.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in Vietnam War history, anyone interested in genealogy, anyone interested in the stories of POWs, anyone who claims they voted FOR McCain and not just AGAINST Obama, and anyone who wants to appreciate their father or forefathers.
The Shack
The Shack, by William P. Young
This book is one-of-a-kind. It begins with a preface in which the author says he is telling the story as Mack, the main character, told it to him. Yet it is listed as fiction. This makes the reader wonder if the things contained in the book will be so amazing that the publishers decided no one would believe it was a true story and "banished" it to fiction.
As the story begins, Mack is dealing with the mundane experience of being restless during a snowstorm. Yeah, yeah. We've all experienced that. Can we get to something new please? I realize why it was essential that the author establish that Mack is just like any of us. But I was bored anyway. I wanted to know why the wholesale distributor Tom orders through was sold out and had 10,000 copies on order from the publisher.
Then we explored Mack's history. His daughter was missing and presumed dead, and Mack spent four years grieving, before this random snowstorm occurred and he went to the mailbox and found a note from God saying, "This weekend I'll be at the shack where you last saw Missy's blood, care to join me?" Of course, God didn't use those words, but that is what it boils down to.
Something compels Mack to go and meet with God. At this point, the book reaches its "Bruce Almighty" feel. Morgan Freeman makes no appearance in the whole book, but the author gives God a tangible character with whom Mack can interact. In the Bible, God is a spirit, a voice from the heavens, or generally just someone who doesn't interact with the common man, but speaks through the voices of the prophets. In The Shack, readers are re-introduced to God. True, it is a normal book. There is a definite plot, storyline, foreshadowing, build up to a climax in which the reader suddenly realizes the author has been weaving clues into the story the whole time, surprise ending, and eventual denouement. But it is also a book on theology. Be prepared to set aside what you thought you knew about God, in order to understand the author's perception of God.
The author has cleverly answered many of the hardest questions without saying anyone who has tried to answer them before was wrong. He allows Mack to ask God questions, and presents God's answers in the simplest ways possible. Because it is so simple, it has the feeling that it makes so much sense, of course its true. This is not to say that Mr. Young has taken a stand on certain theological topics such as the concept of the Trinity. It is just that he has managed to write a book that answers hard questions in simple ways without offending people who already have a specific viewpoint.
I recommend this book to people who are fed up with "religious" concepts of God, people who take an interest in theological discussions, people who wonder if their church may have gotten it wrong when introducing them to the creator of the universe, people who want to appreciate something that is not a "religion" but a "relationship," people who want to understand the death of a loved one, and anyone who thought Morgan Freeman played a great "God."
**********SPOILER ALERT**********
Looking back, I wonder: maybe this book should be taken off the fiction shelf and placed, not on the biography shelf, not on the theology shelf, but on the auto-biography shelf. ??? Think about that one...
This book is one-of-a-kind. It begins with a preface in which the author says he is telling the story as Mack, the main character, told it to him. Yet it is listed as fiction. This makes the reader wonder if the things contained in the book will be so amazing that the publishers decided no one would believe it was a true story and "banished" it to fiction.
As the story begins, Mack is dealing with the mundane experience of being restless during a snowstorm. Yeah, yeah. We've all experienced that. Can we get to something new please? I realize why it was essential that the author establish that Mack is just like any of us. But I was bored anyway. I wanted to know why the wholesale distributor Tom orders through was sold out and had 10,000 copies on order from the publisher.
Then we explored Mack's history. His daughter was missing and presumed dead, and Mack spent four years grieving, before this random snowstorm occurred and he went to the mailbox and found a note from God saying, "This weekend I'll be at the shack where you last saw Missy's blood, care to join me?" Of course, God didn't use those words, but that is what it boils down to.
Something compels Mack to go and meet with God. At this point, the book reaches its "Bruce Almighty" feel. Morgan Freeman makes no appearance in the whole book, but the author gives God a tangible character with whom Mack can interact. In the Bible, God is a spirit, a voice from the heavens, or generally just someone who doesn't interact with the common man, but speaks through the voices of the prophets. In The Shack, readers are re-introduced to God. True, it is a normal book. There is a definite plot, storyline, foreshadowing, build up to a climax in which the reader suddenly realizes the author has been weaving clues into the story the whole time, surprise ending, and eventual denouement. But it is also a book on theology. Be prepared to set aside what you thought you knew about God, in order to understand the author's perception of God.
The author has cleverly answered many of the hardest questions without saying anyone who has tried to answer them before was wrong. He allows Mack to ask God questions, and presents God's answers in the simplest ways possible. Because it is so simple, it has the feeling that it makes so much sense, of course its true. This is not to say that Mr. Young has taken a stand on certain theological topics such as the concept of the Trinity. It is just that he has managed to write a book that answers hard questions in simple ways without offending people who already have a specific viewpoint.
I recommend this book to people who are fed up with "religious" concepts of God, people who take an interest in theological discussions, people who wonder if their church may have gotten it wrong when introducing them to the creator of the universe, people who want to appreciate something that is not a "religion" but a "relationship," people who want to understand the death of a loved one, and anyone who thought Morgan Freeman played a great "God."
**********SPOILER ALERT**********
Looking back, I wonder: maybe this book should be taken off the fiction shelf and placed, not on the biography shelf, not on the theology shelf, but on the auto-biography shelf. ??? Think about that one...
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