The Last Lecture: Randy Pausch on Playing the Hand You Are Dealt
An inspiring true story told in the first person. On 18 September 2007, Randy Pausch, a university professor, gave his last lecture. It set out to answer one question: what wisdom would you pass on to the world if you knew it was your last chance? Diagnosed with terminal cancer, he was the right person to deliver that message.
Author: Randy Pausch, with Jeffrey Zaslow
Title: The Last Lecture (2008)
Format: English paperback (Hyperion), 235 pages
Scope: Memoir built from the lecture Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University after his terminal diagnosis
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/1401309658 (ASIN 1401309658)
A Lecture Given Cheerfully
Pausch explained his circumstances with joy and energy, not self-pity. Many professors are invited to give a talk called "The Last Lecture", imagining what they would say if it were their final chance. For Pausch, the exercise was not hypothetical. His talk was about achieving childhood dreams and helping others achieve theirs, and it spread far beyond the lecture hall.
From Talk to Book
Out of that final lecture came the autobiographical book The Last Lecture, written with Wall Street Journal writer Jeffrey Zaslow, which after Pausch’s death in 2008 became one of the best-selling books on the New York Times list. Its lessons are about living in the present, building a legacy and making the most of the time you have.
Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
The lecture’s official title was "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". Pausch listed the dreams he had as a boy: experiencing zero gravity, playing in the NFL, writing an article for the World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning giant stuffed animals at fairs and working as a Disney Imagineer. Then he explained, with jokes and slides, how he had achieved most of them, and what he had learned from the ones he had not. The famous twist, which he called a "head fake", comes at the end: the talk was never really about dreams, but about how to live.
Who Randy Pausch Was
Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, known for his work on virtual reality and human-computer interaction, and co-creator of Alice, a program that teaches children to code by making animated stories. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and when he gave the lecture in September 2007 he knew he had only months to live. He died in July 2008, at the age of 47.
Written on a Bicycle
The book was written with Jeffrey Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist who had covered the lecture. Pausch, who needed to exercise, dictated much of it to Zaslow by phone while riding his bicycle around his neighbourhood. That conversational origin shows: the chapters are short, direct and often funny, and they read like advice from a teacher who happens to be very good company. Above all, the book was meant for his three young children, who would grow up without him.
Who Will Value It
Anyone facing a difficult diagnosis or a loss, of course, but also students, teachers and parents. It is a quick read and a good one to give; the lecture itself can still be watched online, and it makes a moving companion to the book.
Lessons Worth Keeping
Among the lessons readers quote most: brick walls are there to show how badly we want something; tell the truth; apologise properly; and when you’re screwing up and nobody says anything anymore, it means they’ve given up on you.
Why Read It Now
The line that sums up the book, and the one the reviewer chose, is Pausch’s own: "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." It is a short, warm book, and a good one to give to someone who needs perspective rather than advice.
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