The last lecture

For our meeting in December my book discussion group tries to read something inspirational and/or uplifting.  The book chosen this year was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.  By now, many people have heard of the book and the author, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and succumbed to the disease this past summer.  I have to admit that, although I had heard many good things about the book, I was not wildly excited about the choice and concerned that it might be something of a downer, much less uplifting, especially around the holidays.

I was wrong.  The Last Lecture is not only inspirational and uplifting, it is laugh-out-loud funny, heartwarming, sad and ultimately hopeful.  It’s a great holiday read and a great gift idea.

Following a common tradition on many college campuses, Carnegie Mellon University has its own last lecture series, which was called “Journeys”, an opportunity for professors “to offer reflections on their personal and professional journeys”.  Fearing he was terminally ill at the time of his presentation on September 18, 2007, Professor Pausch, the father of three very young children, saw his last lecture as an opportunity to relate life lessons not only to his students and fellow faculty members, but also as a legacy on living to leave for his children.  His lecture was titled, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. 

The book is an expanded version of that presentation.  The dedication reads “With thanks to my parents who allowed me to dream and with hopes for the dreams my children will have.”  Although I’ve heard many times that the book and the lecture was Pausch’s way of teaching the life lessons to his children that he wouldn’t be around to actually share with them, in my mind, it is ultimately a tribute to the parents who allowed him to be who he was and believe that anything he could dream about was possible.

While I think anyone could read this book and take away some wonderful life lessons, I wish a copy could be handed out to new parents when they take their babies home, for there are invaluable parenting lessons to be learned.  While the author’s intent was to share himself with his own children, what he has done is given the reader insight into what it was like to be parented by truly exceptional people and how he, by virtue of that parenting, became an exceptional personal as well.  We should all aspire to raise our children the way Randy Pausch was raised.

To read more about the book The Last Lecture, visit the website http://www.thelastlecture.com/.


Follow this link to watch Professor Pausch’s lecture: http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.htm