The author of this book, Randy Pausch, was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. He was asked to give a talk entitled "The Last Lecture" - one in which he'd "be asked to consider his demise and ruminate on what mattered most to him." Most professors try to impart what they would want to share with their students if they knew it was their last chance. But Pausch didn't have to imagine it'd be his last lecture, because he had just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer - so he already knew it'd be one of his last.In his lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his childhood dreams and about enabling the dreams of others. Two of my favorite lessons:
"Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
"A lot of people want a shortcut. And the best shortcut is the long way which is basically two words: work hard."
This was a great book, written in such a positive, touching, and humorous way - I was really rooting for Pausch and praying for him to beat his cancer, until I realized the book was published in April 2008 and he died that July. I felt really impacted by the pain he felt in knowing that he was going to leave his children without a father; and also by what his wife must have been going through. In one chapter, Pausch explained that he was scheduled to travel and give his lecture on the day of his wife's birthday. So when he finished the lecture, he had a birthday cake wheeled out and had the whole auditorium sing happy birthday to her. When she went up on stage to give him a hug, she held on tightly to him and whispered in his ear, "Please don't die ..." Even though I was reading in Borders, I definitely shed a few tears when I got to that part.
Pausch shares beautiful and touching life lessons in this book ... interwoven with his very real and tragic life experiences. Thanks to Dana for the recommendation :)
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