Review #8: The Last Lecture

Book Title: The Last Lecture
Author: Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow
Year Published: 2008
Publisher: Hyperion Books (USA)
                 Hodder & Stoughton (UK)

My tidbits

Firm but compassionate. That’s how I see Randy Pausch, the author of this international bestseller. I have never known him, but inspiration knows no boundaries. Dr. Randy was a brilliant scientist, who was also a professor in Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006, when he was only 46 years old. As a way to create as many memories as possible for his very young children, Randy chose to do what he was best at: delivering lectures.

“The Last Lecture” is a based on a talk he gave to the audience of 400 in Carnegie Mellon, titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. Randy Pausch prepared slides on how he achieved his childhood dreams, and creating dreams for other people around him. The video of his lecture is available for viewing on Youtube =) 

Achieving childhood dreams? Not many people are that lucky. Some have it buried under their conscious life. However, Randy Pausch was able to fulfill some of dreams in his checklist. I believe Randy worked really hard to be where he was – and he grabbed every little chance offered to him, that would lead him to get nearer to his childhood dreams.  Keep finding ways and pushing, and pushing. I admire his persistence, really. Randy had this view/motto/idea that “brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.” That pretty much explains how he checked all of those in the list =)

As bright as he always was – he was a Disney Imagineer for 6 months, and became a once-a-week consultant for Disney for the next 10 years – Randy had every right to be conceited. In fact, some people perceived him as “tactless” and “quickest to offend someone he just met” (pg. 67), though he didn’t mean it that way. Yet, he was humble enough to call himself as a “recovering jerk” (pg. 116), when he found a student that was difficult to work with. I found it inspiring, as I don’t have the humility to admit that I am too, can be like that sometimes =p

Some cliché advices we have heard, somewhere, somehow. Randy talked about them too here. Oh no. That sounds like another way to close the book prematurely. But Randy still caught my attention and got me to sit and read the advices carefully. “All of You Have to do is Ask”, “Loyalty is Two-Way Street”, or “Be the First Penguin” are just few of the “oh-so-true” advices linked to his interesting life experiences.  

“The Last Lecture” really gives me the impression of a compilation of Randy’s fatherly advices and listening to his childhood stories (growing up in 60’s and 70’s sounds cool to me now). My own father shares a lot of his wisdom to his children (I win the parent lottery too!), and maybe that’s why this book holds a special place in my heart =)