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The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow

The Last Lecture Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." — Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave — "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" — wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

Review:

"I defy you to finish it without a box of tissues. Friendly in tone, this book is light-hearted but not as willfully jokey as the lecture....The text focuses more cleanly on the nitty-gritty of making a good life." Cleveland Plain Dealer

Review:

"Throughout the book, the author is frank about his emotions but never maudlin....I'm grateful that Randy Pausch chose to do his last lecture, and that through this book we can share it too." BookReporter.com

Review:

"The book isn't just a compendium of life lessons. It also contains surprisingly honest stories of his upbringing, how he met and wooed his wife, Jai, and why each of his children is special to him." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Synopsis:

Based on the extraordinary final lecture by Carnegie Mellon University professor Pausch, given after he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, this moving book goes beyond the now-famous lecture to inspire readers to live each day with purpose and joy. Photos.

About the Author

Randy Pausch was a Professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He was an award-winning teacher and researcher, worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the Alice project. He passed away on July 25, 2008, of pancreatic cancer.

Jeffrey Zaslow, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, attended the last lecture, and wrote the story that helped fuel worldwide interest in it. He lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, Sherry, and daughters Jordan, Alex and Eden.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 7 comments:
C Horne, April 17, 2009 (view all comments by C Horne)
The Last Lecture is a book filled with living-life-to-the-fullest advice from a college professor. While to some this might sound as interesting as reading a doctoral dissertation, you'd be surprised.

The author, Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, writes so well that you'd probably let him teach you about computers too. Some things he talks about include: remember to laugh, seizing every moment, overcoming obstacles, appreciate the gifts you recieve, and enabling the dreams of others.

Although the author died this year, his wisdom will no doubt be around awhile in this very enlightening book. Other books in this genre I liked include "Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World".
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(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Yonathan, March 10, 2009 (view all comments by Yonathan)
I was a bit wary at first. I usually despise self-help books as simplistic cure all ills with one fell swoop common sense rephrased to sound profound. However, this little book seemed a bit different from the outset because the author really is dying and is making an effort to explain himself to his kids and offer his own advise. The result is a book that is part self-help and part testimonial.

The self-help stuff is the same rather ordinary "accept life as it is and go for your dreams" type stuff that's been published in one form or another for thousands of years. Life is sad and and man is a mystery so make of your short time on Earth whatever happiness and fulfillment you can. From Buddism to Dr. Phil, the message has changed surprisingly little even if the messenger has.

Randy Pausch is different from most people because he is a high achiever. He is intelligent, energetic, talented, creative, curious, hardworking, realistic and proactive. He is hardly perfct and does not pretend to be but he is an optimist in a world of pessimism. Most people live in their heads, Pausch lived in the world long before he got cancer. I have to admit I admire Randy and his indefatigable optimism. I was most struck by his ability to apply the understanding of when it's time to be serious and time to be silly and that each has it's place. This shows an unusually high level of maturity and could be used to instruct today's slacker generations, if they cared to be instructed.

The book reads like a curriculum vitae of Randy's accomplishments in both work and life. In most people, this would seem self-congratulatory or even arrogant. In Pausch, it is touching because he is dying. I would argue that only the dying have earned the right to revel in their accomplishments. He's knows he is not only giving the last lecture but delivering the last chapter of his autobiography.
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(3 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
lastlecture, February 23, 2009 (view all comments by lastlecture)
The Last Lecture

"The Last Lecture" is a book filled with living-life-to-the-fullest advice from a college professor. While to some this might sound as interesting as reading a doctoral dissertation, you'd be surprised.

The author, Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, writes so well that you'd probably let him teach you about computers too. Some things he talks about include: remember to laugh, seizing every moment, overcoming obstacles, appreciate the gifts you recieve, and enabling the dreams of others.

Although the author died this year, his wisdom will no doubt be around awhile in this very enlightening book. Other books in this genre I liked include "Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World".

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 7 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9781401323257
Author:
Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
Publisher:
Hyperion Books
With:
Zaslow, Jeffrey
Author:
Zaslow, Jeff
Author:
Pausch, Randy
Author:
Zaslow, Jeffrey
Subject:
General
Subject:
Death
Subject:
Terminally ill
Subject:
Personal Growth - General
Subject:
Philosophy
Subject:
Scientists - General
Subject:
Cancer -- Patients -- United States.
Subject:
Death -- Psychological aspects.
Copyright:
Publication Date:
January 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
206
Dimensions:
724x551x75 63
Age Level:
12-UP

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