The Last Lecture Book by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow

The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch (Author), Jeffrey Zaslow (Author)

Review
Release on April 8, 2008

Amazon review about this book:

"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 From Publishers Weekly
"Made famous by his Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon and the quick Internet proliferation of the video of the event, Pausch decided that maybe he just wasn't done lecturing. Despite being several months into the last stage of pancreatic cancer, he managed to put together this book. The crux of it is lessons and morals for his young and infant children to learn once he is gone. Despite his sometimes-contradictory life rules, it proves entertaining and at times inspirational. Surprisingly, the audiobook doesn't include the reading of Pausch's actual Last Lecture, which he gave on September 18, 2007, a month after being diagnosed. Erik Singer provides an excellent inflective voice that hints at the reveries of past experiences with family and children while wielding hope and regret for family he will leave behind. The first CD is enhanced with photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."



Review By Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York)
"One of the staples of "the college experience" at many schools is the "last lecture" --- a beloved professor sums up a lifetime of scholarship and teaching as if he/she were heading out the door for the last time. It's the kind of tweed-jacket-with-elbow-patches talk that may or may not impart useful knowledge and lasting inspiration, but almost surely gives all present some warm and fuzzy feelings.

But a "last lecture" by Randy Pausch was different in every possible way. The professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University was just 46, and this really was his last lecture --- he was dying.

And dying fast. In the summer of 2006, Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a ferociously efficient killer. Only 4% of its victims are alive five years after diagnosis. Most die much faster. Think months, not years.

Pausch fought back. Surgery. Chemo. Progress. But in August of 2007, the cancer returned --- and now it had metastasized to his liver and spleen. The new prognosis: 3-6 months of relative health, then a quick dispatch to the grave, leaving behind a wife and three little kids.

On September 18, 2007 --- less than a month later --- Randy Pausch gave his last lecture.

No one would have faulted him for launching a blast about desperately seizing opportunities in an irrational universe. Instead, Pausch delivered a laugh-filled session of teaching stories about going after your childhood dreams and helping others achieve theirs and enjoying every moment in your life --- even the ones that break your heart. Pausch's philosophy, in brief: "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

The lecture was taped, and slapped up on YouTube. Jeffrey Zaslow wrote about it in The Wall Street Journal, and news shows made Pausch "person of the week" --- and soon Pausch had a book deal reported to be worth almost $7 million. Few expected him to be alive when it was published.

On February 19, I interviewed Randy Pausch for Reader's Digest. To the surprise of many --- including Pausch --- he was still his recognizable, energetic self. As I write (in early April, 2008), Pausch reports he's recovering from a standing eight count. But his good news doesn't deceive him. He notes that pancreatic cancer did to the photographer Dith Pran ("The Killing Fields") what Pol Pot couldn't --- it buried him in three months.

And now we have the book. It's two books, really, because it reads one way with the author still among us and will surely read differently when "The Last Lecture" is like the The Butterfly and the Diving Bell --- the record of a dead man, talking. The first book invites your support and gives you a wake-up call. The second, I suspect, is also a wake-up call but, between the lines, reminds you that even happiness can't save you from death.

Somewhere in between --- in the quiet space where a book really lives --- is a document that accomplishes a lot in 200 pages. It's about paying attention to what you think is important (when asked how he got tenure early, Pausch replied, "Call me at my office at 10 o'clock on Friday night and I'll tell you") and working hard and listening really well. It's easy to miss that last part of that in the emotion and the stories surrounding this book, but Pausch argues that hearing what other people say about you and your work is crucial to success and happiness. Because this is what you get: "a feedback loop for life."

So, if you must, shed your tears for Randy Pausch. Imagine what it would be like if you or your dearest loved one drew the card called pancreatic cancer. And then put dying aside, and get on with your dreams. Amazing how many you can achieve if you want them badly enough. And how they have the power to cushion the pain when the bad stuff happens.

Sounds crazy, I know: Pollyanna in the cancer ward. But I talked with the guy. And we laughed and laughed. Of all the achievements in a life that's winding down, that's got to be up there."


Review By Robert Kall "Rob Kall of Opednews.com" (Newtown, PA)
"The first and only book I've ever read that made me cry through half the chapters.

If you haven't seen the Youtube video, read the Parade Magazine or the Original Wall Street Journal articles that got this phenomenon off the ground, you're missing something you really want to be aware of.

Randy Pausch is dying of cancer. He had surgery and chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer and it failed. He's been told he has three to six months to live, with the ten tumors in his liver that came back after his original treatment.

As is traditional at many universities, he gave a "last lecture" which is usually given by elder, retiring professors. But Pausch's last lecture because an internet youtube phenomenon. And now, after the book he did with Wall Street Journal writer Jeff Zaslow is out, titled, The Last Lecture , it is a huge, runaway bestseller, so hot, that Disney's Hyperion Publishing doesn't have enough to keep the books in stock in bookstores.

Now, I was lucky, after reading about Pausch's last lecture in the Wall Street Journal, I wrote to thank the article writer, and told him I'd posted it on my website.opednews dot com. A short time later, the writer offered to send me a copy to review. When my copy came in, my office manager, Rose, expressed interest in it, so I told her to go ahead and borrow it for a few days. I get a lot of review books, many unsolicited, and I only read a small percentage of them. But I knew I wanted to read this one. When I told Rose I wanted it back, so I could read it on an international flight, I asked her how she liked it. She told me she'd only read the first three chapters-- that she'd cried during reading each one. I was going on a trip with my 27 year old daughter and my better half, so, on the one hour drive to the airport, I started reading the book out loud, to them.

Rose was not alone. I found myself choking up, engaging in overlong pauses and needing to clear the tears from MY eyes as Pausch told his story, and the life lessons he'd learned. I kept asking if my partner or my daughter wanted me keep reading and they had me read until we parked the car.

I finished the book quickly and I have to say, it's unique. I've never read a book where over half the chapters (about 60 chapters) touch my heart AND make me cry.

This book is ALL about positive psychology. It's not university research, but there's an awful lot of university wisdom. It should be required reading for positive psychologists. This is how wisdom is woven together into a meaningful life.

Pausch explores, throughout the book the theme of acheiving your own childhood dreams, adult dreams, and enabling the dreams of others. He mentions early, how when he was a kid, when it came to the World book encyclopedia, "I didn't read every word, but I gave it a shot." One of his childhood dreams was to be a contributor, as an expert to the worldbook-- and eventually, it did happen. That made me think. I'm a quotationaholic, sort of like a bibliomaniac (which I also am) but for quotations. I usually leave a few quotation books in the bathroom. The quotes make perfect reading length material. I was delighted one day to have my son come up to me, holding the Book of Positive Quotations, informing me that one of my quotations was in it. That was one of those moments.

Pausch, an engineer, takes lessons from his life that he wants to pass on to his very young three children and his students. He's a man who has accomplished some impressive things in his life, so that lends credibility to what would otherwise be solid, wise advise.

I love his attitude towards "brick walls." When you reach a brick wall that seems unsurmountable and unpassable, he advises, "The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a c hance to show how badly we want something." Then he tells several stories illustrating how brick walls challenged him and how he overcame the challenges.

Coming from spending over 30 years in the world of biofeedback, I was pleased to see that Pausch believes, "In the end, educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. THe only way any of us can improve... is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can't accurately do that, how can we tell if we're getting better or worse?"

I love chapter 39, "Be the First Penguin." He writes that "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. .... It's a phrase worth considering at every brick wall we encounter, and at every disappointment. It's also a reminder that failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential."

Pausch tells the story that how, for the "Building Virtual Worlds" course he taught at Carnegie Mellon, he created a "First Penguin Award. "It went to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas or new technology, while failing to achieve their stated goals. In essence, it was an award for 'glorious failure' and it celebrated out-of-the-box thinking and using imagination in a daring way.

"The other students came to understand: 'First Penguin' winners were losers who were definitely going somewhere.

"The title of the award came fromt he notion that whne penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin."

"....Start-up companies often prefer to hire a chief executive witha failed start-up in his or her background. The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls."

Then he revisits the quote, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted," adding, "And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer."


He writes, "'Lucky' is a strange word to use to describe my situation, but a part of me does feel fortunate..." I'll let you read the book to find out why. It may me think how, a few weeks ago, while driving on a weekend ski trip to Vermont, my old college buddy was driving close to the 65 MPH speed limit, hit some black ice, fishtailed, spun 360 degrees, rolled over the guard rail, rolled two more times down a 25 foot embankment, then hit a tree that brought us to an abrupt stop. I ended up with a very knuckle, and a small abrasion on the back of my hand. The car was VERY totaled, but we both walked away, relatively unharmed, so we were able to enjoy two days of double diamond expert skiing at Killington. I knew I was lucky. But as the experience has worked on me, I've come to realize I'm actually grateful for it. It's given me a fresh approach to life. I appreciate it more and push myself a bit harder to go deeper, in my work, play and relationships.

This book takes YOU to a multitude of ways of thinking about how to get more out of life. It's well worth the investment. Just throw a box of facial tissues to wipe away the tears from your eyes. I'm not kidding when I say I literally cried through over half the chapters."


Review By A reader (Midwest)
"I really liked the lecture. I've downloaded both Prof. Pausch's time management lecture and this one. So I'm a fan. I have nothing against Prof. Pausch, though I do think that his friends jokingly calling him "St. Randy" is pretty funny. I see a lot of hero-worship of him on the web.
He's a very charismatic, very intelligent, very passionate guy. These are great qualities. They also make his last lecture fun to watch.

But the book is just that, a book. And while I'm sure those who have seen the lecture can imagine Prof. Pausch (okay, I don't know the man, but he seems like a first-name kind of guy-as opposed to a "title" sort of person, and I'm definitely a first-name kind of person, so I'm going to switch to calling him Randy now.) saying the words, there's a lot lost without seeing Randy's passion.
The book has some more stories from Randy's life, and there's some elaboration on some of the ones he does talk about, but Randy's a good professor. He really distilled the most important and most interesting parts into his lecture (with the possible exception of wooing his wife, Jai, but I found that story not substantially more compelling or instructive than his grad school admission story). Actually, let me sum it up for you: they met while he was visiting a campus where she was studying, her job was to host him, they went on a date, she doesn't want a long-distance relationship, he sends her flowers and she changes her mind, they get more serious, she gets scared while he's down there for a seminar and he gives her support by checking in on her a bit, she realizes she loves him.

This is a pretty short book. Frankly, the extra stories and the elaboration beyond the lecture don't make it worth the money when the lecture-with the advantage of seeing Randy's personality-is available for free.
I did have some qualms about writing this review; after all, Randy puts the lecture and transcript of his last lecture out there for free. And if I'd only seen the video once and couldn't see it again, I'd most likely want the book. So in a sense, I'm penalizing the book for that generosity. On the other hand, if I had never seen the video, this is probably not a book that I would buy. There are a lot of good self-help books out there and I'd probably flip through this book, decide there was too much stuff about computers in there and too much of the same old stuff in not an exceptionally well-done way and leave it on the shelf.
If you're curious, I'd check it out at the library or flip through it in the book store. But don't buy this book sight unseen.

If the book had touted that all or even some of its proceeds went to pancreatic cancer research, I would have bought the book. Out of guilt, if nothing else. I really enjoy listening to the lecture and it's free and I'd like to give something back for that. But there was no mention of any kind of donation of the sort. Actually, donations to an organization like that might be the best way to show gratitude and support"



Review By z hayes "myrradine" (texas)
"I confess I had not heard about Dr Pausch's "Last Lecture" that was broadcast on the internet and his appearance on TV until I saw this book at a bookstore. I have since downloaded the original transcript of his lecture and read it, and also this book which is an amazing testament to the life of an amazing individual, not because he is dying of pancreatic cancer at the young age of 47, but because he chooses to live his life to the utmost with the time he has left [instead of indulging in self-pity and 'why me' talk].

The greatest gift of this book is that it promotes the idea of enjoying one's time with one's family, of making time to do the little things we take so much for granted. This is what Dr Pausch has chosen to do with his remaining time - spend it with his young family [a wife and three kids aged 6,4, and 2] whilst also preparing them to continue after his demise.

A poignant read, but also a timely book that once again emphasises the need for one to make time for the things that really matter- the loved ones in our lives. Another book that promotes this wisdom is "An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love" by Richard and Kristine Carlson."



About the Author

"Randy Pausch is a Professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988-1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He is an award-winning teacher and researcher, and has worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the Alice project. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

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."

If you would like to buy this book, you can check out its available for The Last Lecture [ROUGHCUT] (Hardcover) at amazon.com