The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude... Don't complain; just work harder... Never give up.

If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, 'Tell the truth.' If I got three more words, I'd add, 'All the time.'

I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun, and I'm going to keep having fun every day I've got left.

Uploaded on Dec 20, 2007

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. 

For more on Randy, visit: http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture

Learn how to support the Randy Pausch Memorial Bridge, visit: http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/images/ex...

The Last Lecture Summary

Introduction

The Last Lecture, a book cowritten by computer science professor Randy Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow, was published in 2008 by Hyperion. It is based on the highly acclaimed and inspirational lecture presented by Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University on September 18, 2007.

The title of the book is derived from the concept of a retiring professor’s “last lecture,” which includes the professor’s insights into life and what really matters. Pausch was forced to deliver an untimely and very literal last lecture after facing a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer. His lecture, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," was delivered in front of an audience filled with Pausch’s family, friends, students, and colleagues; it quickly received praise from the public after a copy was posted online, and Pausch even gave an abridged version of his lecture on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Written with humor and wisdom, this book serves as a reflection of the main points of Pausch’s lecture. In it, Pausch discusses the importance of childhood dreams and how to go about achieving them as one grows older. The major points of his book include taking the time to dream, the importance of good parents in a child’s life, and how to put people before materials. Intertwined in the major themes of his lecture are Pausch’s own personal anecdotes, complete with how he was able to turn his boyhood dreams into reality, including becoming an Imagineer for Walt Disney World, and creating the Alice software project.

In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch says, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” Through his stories and experience, Pausch imparts readers with a “how-to” guide when striving to reach goals and dreams, but the book also serves as one man’s legacy to his three young children. Pausch lived to see The Last Lecture become a New York Times best seller in April of 2008. He lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008, at the age of forty-seven, but not before inspiring millions of readers to never stop believing in their dreams.

The Ability to Display What Life Can Be as Opposed to What Life Is

One of the most compelling aspects of Pausch's work is how he renders a transformative vision of being in the world.  In a context in which so many struggle with why consciousness is the way it is or why individuals should do something, Pausch simply transcends such debate with his statement of what life can be.  Pausch's vision is one where individuals live their lives in accordance to keeping an eye on the maintenance of the social order. Pausch advocates a vision in which individuals are able to live out their passion, but do so in recognizing the needs and aspirations of others.  For Pausch, inspiration lies in being able to connect with others.  In the line, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand," Pausch calls for a transformative vision of being.  For Pausch, the ability to effectively "play the hand we are dealt" represents individuals being agents of change in their affirmation of  recognize what can be done as opposed to merely existing for what is.  In The Last Lecture, there is a blueprint offered on how to both live life and change it so that its meaning is intended for more people experiencing the world as a better place.

- Ashley Kannan.

The Last Lecture Extended Summary

Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture is a work of nonfiction that offers its readers advice on how to achieve their childhood dreams and how to live life. The book, which was written with Jeffrey Zaslow, is based on a lecture Randy Pausch gave. Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. After he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly cancer, he was invited to give a “last lecture.” The last lecture is a tradition in which professors are invited to reflect on their lives and their career before giving a final lecture. Pausch’s lecture was entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

When The Last Lecture begins, Pausch explains that he has an “engineering problem.” Although he looks healthy on the outside, inside he has ten tumors in his liver. He has three children: Dylan, Logan, and Chloe. The oldest is five and the youngest is still an infant. Pausch also has a wife, Jai, pronounced “Jay.” Pausch has a lot to live for, but he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has perhaps three months to live. Engineering is about doing the best you can with limited resources, and Pausch explains this is what he is trying to do withThe Last Lecture.

In retrospect, Pausch explains, the lecture was a great success, but it was not an easy project for him to start. With only a few months left to live, Pausch and Jai moved to Virginia so Jai’s family would be nearby to offer support. Now every day is busy with unpacking and preparing for the inevitable. Jai explains that she is opposed to the project because it will take time from Pausch that he will not be able to spend with his family. Also, the date of the lecture has been set for Jai’s birthday, so on her last birthday with her husband, Pausch will be in Pittsburgh preparing for his lecture rather than spending time with his wife. Although Pausch understands his wife’s concerns, he explains that he felt very drawn to the idea of a last lecture. Perhaps the most important thing for him is that his young children will struggle to remember their father as they get older. However, the last lecture, which will be recorded in front of an audience, will be recorded for posterity. Furthermore, he feels that the advice he offers, validated by an audience, will be more powerful for his children as they grow up. Finally, Pausch points out that “an injured lion still wants to roar.”

After struggling to find a theme, Pausch settles on achieving childhood dreams. He explains that his fight with cancer does not make him unique because thousands of people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year. His work as a computer scientist and as a teacher is important but does not really bring out what makes him unique. Instead, Pausch realizes, he is unique because so much of what he has achieved has been inspired by his childhood dreams. Pausch organizes his lecture with photos that will punctuate his argument, some of which are included in the book. Pausch’s lecture begins by addressing the “elephant in the room.” He explains to his audience that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Although he is receiving chemotherapy treatments, he still has his hair. In fact, in many ways he is still in good health—so much so that he drops to the floor and does push-ups. However, his talk is not about what he has learned from dying. Instead, he is going to talk about living. The key to living is living out childhood dreams.

Pausch credits his parents with allowing him to grow up with a sense of charity and a sense of curiosity. His father was a man who spent his money carefully, but he bought a set of World Encyclopedias, and Pausch credits this with giving him the sense of curiosity that led to him becoming a professor—one who would go on to write an entry in the World Encyclopedia on virtual reality. Pausch also explains that when he was young, he asked his father if he could...

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The Last Lecture Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 Summary

An Injured Lion Still Wants to Roar

“Last lectures” are common events on many college campuses. A professor is asked to consider the end of his life and think about what is most important to him. The ideal result is a lecture that causes the audience to ponder the question of their own mortality and legacy. Carnegie Mellon University has done these lectures for years; the series is named Journeys. After Randy Pausch is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he is asked to give his Journey lecture in September.

In mid-August, Pausch gets the news that he has only months to live, and he considers canceling his lecture. He and his wife, Jai, think he should be spending all his final days with...

(The entire section is 465 words.)

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