'Last Lecture' should have been read sooner

“The Last Lecture”
By Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

I am generally not someone who gushes over books, particularly non-fiction titles, but “The Last Lecture” inspired and impressed me so much, I can not say enough about it. I will admit that I bought this book not long after it was published and it sat on my nightstand for quite awhile. I buy few non-fiction books in the first place (no need since the library is very handy!) so for me to buy it and have it sit, is unusual. I should have read it immediately. It will be one I reread and reread.

The “Last Lecture” series at Carnegie Mellon University is a series of lectures given by people, often university professors, who are to talk about “their personal and professional journeys.” When Randy Pausch was asked to give his “last lecture,” he knew it would truly be his last lecture.

Pausch had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with a life expectancy of three to six months. He wanted this lecture to be his legacy to his family and his way of communicating all the life lessons he would not be able to teach his young children himself. The lecture was to be videotaped for his family so his children could view it later in life. (The lecture may be watched in its entirety on YouTube, where it has been viewed over 8 million times.)

The book expands on his talk through a number of short chapters divided into sections. Pausch talks about the lecture, growing up, his dreams, his career, Jai, his wife, and their three children in these five sections. He takes the reader through his life starting with the last lecture before going back to his childhood years and moving forward through his life.

All of the sections reflect how he lived his life before and after his diagnosis but it is Section V that talks about how people should live their lives. In fairness to the reader he qualifies the section by saying “This section may be called ‘It’s About How to Live Your Life,’ but it’s really about how I’ve tried to live mine. I guess it’s my way of saying: Here’s what worked for me.”

Most of what he talks about should not be new to readers as the lessons should be things we learned growing up. The short chapters talk about what he truly believes: “Dream Big” (how he missed seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and the lesson learned by missing it), “Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder” (complaining takes up too much energy), “Don’t Obsess Over What People Think” (your wasting your time), “No Job is Beneath You” (the perceived entitlement among younger people today), “Show Gratitude” and two of my favorites, “Get in Touch with Your Crayon Box,” where Pausch talks about carrying around a crayon (usually black or white) to be reminded of your child and how things are not always right or wrong; and “Watch What They Do, Not What They Say,” his dating advice for his 18-month old daughter and his two sons.

Randy Pausch was not perfect and he did not get a miracle cure — he passed away on July 25, 2008. He did try to live his life simply, with joy, happiness, love, respect and no regrets. He tried to be Tigger, not Eeyore in this not-so-perfect world in which we all live.

This is a relatively short book that is very easy to read. And while the lecture was taped as a means of communicating his life and beliefs to his children, the book gives even more. This is one of the best, most honest and inspiring books I have read in a long time. A must read for everyone.

~Susan Wray- Library Director

Wonders of Wildlife

The Children's Summer Reading Club is well underway. It's hard to believe, but we've almost finished our fourth week, and have a mere five to go!

Today Misty Mitchell and some teen volunteers from Springfield's Wonders of Wildlife visited and presented two back-to-back shows about Missouri Animals. The children that attended were lucky enough to meet a red-eared slider turtle, a flying squirrel, a barn owl and a great-plains rat snake. The children who attended also had the unique opportunity to touch several of the animals.

If you missed Wonders of Wildlife do not despair. They will be returning on September 17th at 6:00 p.m. to present a Discover Downtown "Wild Nights" show on the front lawn. Also the Library has numerous other programs during the next five weeks of Summer Reading. Check out the Library Calendar for a complete listing, drop by the Children's Desk and pick up a program guide, or call 417-623-2184.

More Adult Summer Reading Reviews!

A lot of adults have turned in booklogs this summer, entering them for a chance to win a Booklover's Bag full of prizes from local businesses. If you've missed out, there's still time. Come by the library and ask about the Adult Summer Reading Program at any public desk.

Here are some more favorites from our Adult Summer Reading participants:

Homebirth in the Hospital: Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine
by Stacey Marie Kerr, M.D.

It was mainly birth stories of women who made decisions regarding their birth. It wasn't a guide as to how to integrate as the title suggested. Good for birth stories, not in how to navigate the over-medicalized model of childbirth so prevalent (and mandated) in our society.
~Crystal

The Lazarus Trap
by T. David Bunn

An impressive business espionage book. A man wakes up with amnesia, later finds out he is supposed to be dead and is being framed for over 400 million worth of embezzlement from the company he worked for. Very clean, no curse words.
~Peter

The Secret
by Beverly Lewis

Story of a daughter's struggle to understand her mother and her own life. At the same time, all she knew of her past is not necessarily the truth. She uncovers more and more with each chapter. Can't wait for the sequel!
~Brenda

Dave Berry's Book of Bad Songs
by Dave Berry

The Author took a survey of bad songs and was flooded with responses. This book covers the best of the in a very funny way.
~Lynn

No ‘Lion’: Updated book is heartwarming tale

“A Lion Called Christian”

By Anthony Bourke and John Rendall

Last summer, a heart-tugging YouTube clip went viral, forwarded to person after person around the globe until it made headlines. You might have seen it: It featured a reunion between two young men and an adult lion, with Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” as the soundtrack. Definitely a Kleenex moment. Even now, thinking about it, I get a little misty-eyed.

The story behind that clip is told in “A Lion Called Christian,” originally published in 1971 but recently updated and re-released. The book is a fast read and, while not as sentimental as the YouTube clip, is heart-warming and fascinating.

In 1969, friends Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, newly arrived from Australia, were sightseeing in London’s famous Harrod’s when they came upon two lion cubs for sale. They immediately felt a connection with the male cub, whom they dubbed Christian. After some discussion, they purchased him for the modern equivalent of $3,500 dollars, intent on saving him from the gawking shoppers and life in a cage.

If you can get past the ethical concerns about trafficking in exotic animals (remember, this was 40 years ago), their early days with Christian are rather amusing. Home was an apartment above the furniture store where they worked, appropriately named Sophistocat. At night, Christian slept in the heated basement on a pile of blankets and used a lion-sized litterbox. During the day, he was free to roam around the store, where his presence attracted the attention of customers, who were asked, “Do you have any objection to lions?” His daily exercise consisted of playing in a cemetery surrounded by a tall brick wall.

The laid-back lion cub enjoyed being carried and cuddled but was not encouraged to use his superior strength. “We had not told Christian that he was a lion,” the authors cheekily write. “We thought this knowledge would only lead to regrettable lionlike behavior.” But by the time he was 8 months old and 130 pounds, Christian was growing too bored and too big for life in London.

A fortuitous meeting with the stars and director of the hit film “Born Free” provided a welcome opportunity. They proposed sending Christian to Kenya. There he would be put into the care of George Adamson, whose work with lions had inspired “Born Free,” and rehabilitated before his release into the wild. “It was as if a prison sentence had suddenly, simply, been lifted. Of all the lions ever born in Europe, Christian had been offered an unprecedented reprieve. He was to go back where he belonged.”

In 1970, Bourke and Rendall traveled to Kenya with Christian and stayed during the early days of his rehabilitation. As time passed, Christian became comfortable with his surroundings. He learned to hunt and take care of himself, and even joined a pride. Confident in their lion’s progress, Bourke and Rendall returned to London but continued to stay in touch with Adamson. In 1971, they returned to Kenya, as a film crew wanted to shoot their reunion with Christian.

In describing that event, the authors excerpt a letter Bourke wrote to his parents: “He stared hard at us for a few seconds, and then slowly moved closer for a good look. He stared intently. … We couldn’t wait any longer and called him. He immediately started to run down towards us. Grunting with excitement, this ENORMOUS lion jumped all over us, but he was very gentle.”

The friends saw Christian one more time, during a visit in 1972, and they again received a warm response, again recounted in Bourke’s letter home: “(He) jumped up on me only once as before on his hind legs and he did it extremely gently. He licked my face as he towered over me. He nearly crushed John by trying to sit on his lap!”

Early in 1973, Christian crossed a river and headed toward a national park, never to be seen again. Regretting nothing, Bourke and Rendall write that they hope he lived another 10 years and established a pride of his own so that his descendants live on in Kenya.

They seem genuinely stunned and touched by the explosion of interest in their story since the YouTube clip went viral. They’ve used this renewed attention to appear on television and accept speaking engagements, where they tell Christian’s story, talk about wildlife conservation and champion the work of George Adamson.

Reading “A Lion Called Christian” definitely made me want to surf over to YouTube and watch that clip again. Pass the Kleenex, please.

~Lisa E. Brown - Administrative Assistant

Sci-fi titles highlight young-adult offerings

Unwind

By Neal Shusterman

(Young adult)

In a futuristic society, The Heartland War has devastated the United States of America and the peace settlement negotiated between the two sides is known as The Bill of Life. This bill ends abortion, but allows parents the option to have their children between the ages of 13 and 18 “unwound.”

A teen that has been unwound means that every part of the teen is harvested and their body parts are given as transplants to the sick or injured. According to the law, they are not being killed since, technically, every piece of them is still alive, just “in a divided state.”

When sixteen-year-old Connor finds out his parents are having him unwound, he runs away and in the process meets up with Risa and Lev.

Risa is an orphan who is being unwound because she is not a gifted enough pianist. Lev is the tenth child of a wealthy, religious family who is voluntarily having him unwound as a “tithe” to God.

Connor’s plan is to keep them all alive until they turn 18 and can no longer be unwound. However, Lev is morally conflicted because of his religious beliefs and he makes Connor’s and Risa’s journey especially difficult.

Author Neal Shusterman skillfully manages to explore both sides of every issue, using a matter-of-fact approach to broach sensitive subjects. While the idea of being unwound is deeply terrifying, when Shusterman details the process it is with a methodical approach, lacking blood or gore.

Despite the straightforward descriptions, this is definitely a teen and adult title because of the complex subject matter. Shusterman has written a gripping piece of literature that will have readers questioning whether this futuristic society could one day become reality, and if so, what would they do to survive.

Wake

By Lisa McMann

(Young adult)

Seventeen-year-old Janie Hannagan has more than her fair share of problems.

Her mother is an alcoholic. She must work full-time at a nursing home to support herself. She lives on the wrong side of town. She longs to attend college, but hold little hope, despite how hard she works.

And her major problem is dreams. Not her dreams, but those of anyone who falls asleep in her presence. Janie has a supernatural gift that causes her to be sucked into dreams and she cannot pull herself out until the dream ends.

This bothersome gift announced itself to Janie at age eight, but as she gets older it is becoming increasingly harder to hide the seizure-like state she goes into while other people dream.

Janie is fed up with not being able to control herself and people are starting to become suspicious. And things get even more weird after she falls into a particularly gruesome nightmare where someone is dreaming about her.

Lisa McMann has written an intriguing and suspenseful read. Janie is a likable character and readers are sure to quickly devour this title and search out Fade, the second book in the series.

~Jeana- Children's Librarian

Summer Reading has begun!

We're almost one week into our Summer Reading Programs and we're off to a great start! My favorite part of the Adult Summer Reading program is looking at all of the great books that people are reading. Here are some of the books people have reviewed thus far:


Haunted Missouri by Jason Offutt
A look at some of Missouri's haunted places. The author chose places that are open to the public so others can go ghost-hunt. Peace Cemetary in Joplin and the Spook Light are featured. Don't read in the dark of night!
~Danya

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zebin
This teen book deals with the tough subject of death. When Liz gets hit by a car, she wakes up and finds herself on a boat in white pajamas. She quickly learns that her boat is headed to "Elsewhere", a place not like heaven or hell, but somewhere in between. In Elsewhere, as years pass you grow younger. Will Liz be able to acclimate to her new "life" or will she constantly be wishing for what was lost in the car accident? Definitely a great read with a compelling plot.
~Breana


Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black
Comedian Lewis Black dissects the topic of religion in this sorta-funny but not-funny-enough-to-make-it-be-worth-reading memoir. From his native Jewish faith to Mormons to Muslims and every faith in between, nobody is spared in the barbed lambasts of Black's bitter world view.
~Mark


Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts
When Nell arrives on Three Sisters Island she feels like she is home at last. She falls in love but fear of the past continues to intrude. Does she have the power to triumph?
~Irell

Check back for more reviews from Adult Summer Reading participants!

Childbirth isn't what it used to be...

A few months ago, I checked out The Business of Being Born, a documentary produced by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein that provides mothers-to-be with insight about the birth process and advocates giving the choices back to the mother instead of the doctors. Being a pregnant woman, I was extremely moved by this documentary and the idea that homebirth is a viable option for many women. Homebirths have dropped in popularity as elective c-sections and inductions have risen, and this film provides you with the knowledge you need to make an educated choice about what you want from the birth process.

Because I loved the movie so much, I jumped at the chance to read Lake and Epstein's new book, Your Best Birth. Many people accused The Business of Being Born of being completely one sided and making women feel like the only choice was the natural choice. I believe that anyone who reads Your Best Birth will feel like Lake and Epstein are encouraging women to take the reigns during childbirth, whether it be in your home, in a hospital or in a birthing center. This book has wonderful birth stories and compelling facts that will empower women to become more educated about their bodies and their lives. Definitely a great read for anyone getting ready to embark on the pregnancy journey.

~Breana- Children's Assistant