The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

I really liked this book. I had heard about Pausch's last lecture a long time ago, and I finally bought a used copy with the gift card Logan and Jody gave us for Christmas. Randy was a computer guy who taught at Carnegie Melon, had a loving wife and little kiddos...then found out he had terminal cancer. This book is derived from his "Last Lecture" he gave at Carnegie Melon months before his death.

The idea is that professors are asked if they could give one final lecture, what would it be-- kind of a "if you had to live on a desert island with one person forever, who would you pick?" kind of thing. Normally the speakers weren't terminal cancer patients, so sadly his "Last Lecture" really was his last lecture.

My coworker said she hated the book because he didn't mention Christ in his final speech and that she believes that a life without Christ is empty and worthless. I reminded her that he states specifically in chapter 1 that his talk would not be about cancer, religion or his family. This doesn't mean that those things aren't important to him, it means that this would be a professional speech regarding his career and how others can have an awesome career if they achieve their childhood dreams (as he did).

It was short and sweet, and very much a tear-jerker at the end (really just the last sentence). I then watched the lecture on youtube. Although I couldn't relate to hardly any of his fascination with information technology and computer programming, Pausch was extremely endearing and reminded me a lot of what Logan would say and do. Anyway, below are a few of the lessons I found particularly interesting/important:


"Even if you're in a position of strength, whether at work or in relationships, you have to play fair. Just because you're in the driver's seat doesn't mean you have to run people over."

"The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. There there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

"It doesn't matter how well you polish the underside of the banister." (don't waste your time dwelling on irrelevant details/unimportant petty issues)

"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier."

"[My dad] believed manual labor was beneath no one. He said he'd prefer that I worked hard and became the best ditch-digger in the world rather than coasting along as a self-impressed elitist behind a desk."

"It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care if itself. The dreams will come to you."

(3.5/5 stars)