Book: The Last Lecture

It took me less than a week to finish this book.Honestly,I hate reading sad story but somehow I did buy the book.It is story of how a university professor lives his life after he was diagnosed suffering from a pancreatic cancer with a few months to live.On a few pages,I was choked.Here is the link to his blog.

While I was reading the last section The Final Remarks of The Last Lecture last Friday,I got the sad news that the executive chairman of Naza Group passed away due to cancer of the lung.Al-Fatihah to Allahyarham Tan Sri Nassimuddin and my condolence to the family.It also reminds me of Azura,Pak Zawi's daughter who is undergoing treatment of cancer in Kelantan now.I wish and du'a for her speedy recovery,insyaAllah.

Reading the book reminded me of my late friend and my neighbour Azhar who passed away due to lymph cancer many years ago.I remember writing a blog about him entitled: I lost a friend...Every two weeks,I visited him and we had teh tarik together.This is my real first encounter with a cancer patient.

As a muslim, the most precious spiritual gift is the iman-The Belief in Allah swt and His Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.And the greatest physical gift from Allah swt is the health that most of us took for granted until we get sick.I am one of those who often forget to be grateful to our Lord for failing to give enough thanks and gratitude for His Rahmah on many of us.Ya Allah,please forgive your humble servant for my ungratefulness and forgetfulness.

One of the lessons learnt from the book and my personal conversations with my late friend who died of cancer is that the path of our lives are all pre-determined by All Mighty God.Our choice is only about how to walk along that path....[or play the given cards as mentioned in the book]

This reminds me of British comedian Woody Allen said: If you want to make God laughs,tell Him your plan.But plan we must do and we also must pray for Allah's mercy on us.

Comments

[hilmi]

salam pak adib,

i have actually placed an order with amazon for this book. i have been hearing about it from a few people and have been told it is brilliant. :) insyaAllah ill find great knowledge and understanding =)

salam

[Adib]

Hilmi,
I won't say it is brilliant, but a few good lessons you can derive or deduce from the author.It is about one man's experience but if you wish to know more about life,I suggest you read philosophy and tasawuf.It is good for a young man like you to read for knowledge, but the real meaning will creep in slowly as you go through this life...Don't rush, take your time;-)

According to my guru,knowledge only comes with the arrival of meaning.

[hilmi]

thank you for your advice pak adib. Will remember that =)

i do read philosophy and also the translation of the Quran itself for self understanding. I'm really shocked what i find in the Quran =) the things i find sometimes make me tear and fall.

I hope i'll learn alot from the books i read and such. By the way, a favourite book of mine:

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

would be a book i'd like you to try and check out. It's a book which shares skills and stuff. very good book. Many CEO's and MD's that i personally know live by that book =)

salam

[hilmi]

the book is by DALE CARNEGIE by the way =)

[Adib]

Hilmi,
You are most welcome.That is a good book.To live by THE book or by A book is not easy;but trying harder we must.

[Laurie]

How inspiring Randy Pausch is! If you liked "The Last Lecture", another fantastic memoir I just read and highly recommend is "My Stroke of Insight" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Her TEDTalk video (ted.com) has been seen as many times as The Last Lecture I think, and Oprah did 4 shows on her book, so there are a lot of similarities. In My Stroke of Insight, there's a happy ending though. It's an incredible story! I hear they're making it into a movie.

[Adib]

Prof Randy Pausch passed away last night.Quoted from Google blog:http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-to-randy-pausch-great-teacher.html