• Ad Age , Friday, December 5, 2008 10:46 AM

My wife attended a speech given last night by Jeffrey Zaslow, the co-author of Professor Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture." www.thelastlecture.com. Zaslow said that the initial 400,000 print run for the book was sold out by noon of its first day on the shelves. Sales, as you no doubt know, were largely driven by the video of Pausch's lecture -- "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" -- which was given after he learned he had pancreatic cancer. My wife's story left me feeling very good about how good ideas can catch fire and spread virally nowadays. And even sell books.

Marissa Miley's story this morning about Joe the Plumber's new book and Web site is the other side of the same coin.

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