RIP: Randy Pausch
Famed professor Randy Pausch died this morning; here's his obituary at CNN.
Several million people have heard the story of his "last lecture" at Carnegie Mellon in the face of a pancreatic cancer death sentence garnered him national attention. I can't recommend Pausch's insights highly enough; he's not maudlin or mawkish, but meaningful in ways that touch on deep issues seldom discussed in public. His book The Last Lecture is still on the best-sellers list, where it has resided since its release in April. I haven't finished reading it yet, but these words from his lecture are my Quote of the Day:
"We're not going to talk about spirituality and religion, although I will tell you that I have experienced a deathbed conversion; I just bought a Macintosh. [laughter] I knew I'd get 9% of the audience with that..."
(Randy Pausch, at about 2:30 in the video of his lecture)
I offer my condolences to his family, friends, and former students.
links:
Randy Pausch's website
The Last Lecture