I think I must have lived under a rock...

..to not have read this sooner!

I've always been an avid reader, but this is one of the few times I've felt really compelled to recommend a book. I finished Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture a bit ago and finally finished watching the actual lecture online. 

Anyone unfamiliar with it -- quick background -- Randy Pausch is a professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Having been very successful, he participated in Carnegie Mellon's "Last Lecture" speaker series. The series was geared towards professors who wanted to discuss things that they would talk about if they were to have to give a last lecture -- for Randy, it was as real as it could get. He passed away in July 2008 -- not even a year after giving his lecture. The book and lecture became an instant phenomenon (the video has been watched over 11 million times).

The book was a quick and easy read, and while a lot of the topics he talks about seem really common sense, the way he talks about things and the stories he tells are just hysterical. Watching the lecture online, it truly blew me away to see this man with less than a year to live, able to talk about his dreams in such an inspiring way. If you haven't had a chance to read it [I think I'm the last person in the world to get around to it!], do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's incredible.

You can watch his lecture online on YouTube. You may want some tissues handy at the end. :)

With that said, I've moved onto another interesting book - The Last Undercover by Bob Hamer. I'm about halfway through and it's really fascinating!

He talks a lot about his various cases -- anything from infiltrating drug rings, to horse racing -- but the main overarching story is about his infiltration of an organization that supports people that might find themselves on the show "To Catch a Predator." I haven't finished it, but I'm very curious to see what federal charges he was able to bring against the organization!