Countdown to 'The Last Lecture' ...

In January, I wrote about The Last Lecture, the book that my friend Jeff Zaslow wrote about Professor Randy Pausch's presentation at Carnegie Mellon University.

At the time, it seemed like April was a world away. How long can it take to typeset a book in the computer age? Why wasn't it due in stores until April 10th?, I wondered.

And now, April 10th is nearly here.

The site for the book is live, though not all of the content is online just yet.

But I wrote to Jeff earlier today to tell him that I like the site – it's appropriately understated – and he replied with a rundown of all the upcoming coverage, including a link to a trailer for the Diane Sawyer special that will air on April 9, the eve of the book's arrival.

You can watch it here. If you are at all prone to emotion, I recommend having box of Kleenex nearby.

And you can buy the book on Amazon here. When I first started checking its sales rank, it was around 5,000. Then it jumped to around 1,400. Today's high sales rank, so far, has been 170.

Like I've been telling Jeff, it's gonna sell a bajillion copies.

My prediction is that it will be on the New York Times bestseller list for at least a year.