Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

12 reviews

elairtherese's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

The Last Lecture is a book I reach to time and time again. I first read it the year it was released when I was sixteen, my dad had died two years prior. It helped me reckon with his death and understand how he could have been both heartbroken and fulfilled with his short but full 41 years.

Randy and my father were not similar, but I felt like Randy and I were. Which was helpful since my dad and I could struggle to connect. He was a dreamer, someone unafraid to devote himself to what he wanted, fun, tenacious, and brave. 

If you are facing a death, within yourself or someone close to you, or on the reverse you are just needing a refreshed lease on life, I urge you to read this book. A simple, but striking lecture on how childhood dreams bloom into your life.

I’m very grateful that Randy Pausch wrote this book, and thank him for it every time I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

laurenb1917's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

5.0

Rating basically someone’s published love letter to their kids feels weird to rate. This was powerful, highly suggest. You gotta be in a good headspace going in though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Cancer

arrr's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This is a good quick listen if you're in the right mood and headspace for end of life consideration from someone who sounds like an extroverted neurodivergent boomer who actually went to therapy and had some useful reflections. F cancer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Medical content

shannay_05's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, and Death of parent

jzpaul's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Death of parent

jessspeake's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Cancer, and Death

d0505's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Death

maggies's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.0

This is a weird one to review because it is, ultimately, what one specific man with a terminal diagnosis wants to impart to his three children before his death. How can one rate or critique what he has to say to his children? So with that caveat…Pausch’s advice was often of a certain generation, for example: write thank you notes, work hard (aka long hours), obstacles are there to test how badly you want something. It’s probably a bit unfortunate, but I can’t identify with a lot of this advice anymore and found it of a completely different worldview than what I espouse. Had I read this book ten years ago, I probably would have enjoyed it quite a bit more. On the other hand, it was interesting just to learn about how Pausch organized his life and death and what formative lessons were for him. The memoir-like stories and vignettes earned two stars; the advice, one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Cancer

Moderate: Pregnancy and Medical content

mariaviola's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Cancer, Grief, Terminal illness, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

christinacarrig's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

Such an emotional read about facing death and reflecting on life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death