The Last Lecture
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- ISBN13: 9781401323257
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
“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 Address.” Professors are questioned to consider their demise and to ponder 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 questioned to give such a address, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with mortal cancer. But the address 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 reflect”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to judge. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his address such a phenomenon and agreed it an quick form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.Amazon.com Review
“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 Address.” Professors are questioned to consider their demise and to ponder 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 questioned to give such a address, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with mortal cancer. But the address 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 reflect”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to judge. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his address such a phenomenon and agreed it an quick form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
Questions for Randy Pausch
We were shy about barging in on Randy Pausch’s valuable time to question him a few questions about his expansion of his legendary Last Address into the book by the same name, but he was gracious enough to take a moment to answer. (See Randy to the right with his kids, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.) As anyone who has watched the address or read the book will know, the really crucial question is the last one, and we weren’t surprised to learn that the “secret” to winning giant stuffed animals on the midway, like most anything else, is sheer persistence.
Amazon.com: I make an apology for asking a question you must get far more regularly than you’d like, but how are you feeling?
Pausch: The tumors are not yet large enough to affect my health, so all the problems are related to the chemotherapy. I have neuropathy (lack of feeling in fingers and toes), and varying degrees of GI discomfort, mild vomiting, and fatigue. Occasionally I have an unusually terrible result to a chemo mix (last week, I spiked a 103 fever), but all of this is a tiny fee to pay for walkin’ around.
Amazon.com: Your address at Carnegie Mellon has reached millions of people, but even with the fleeting time you rumor has it that have, you wanted to write a book. What did you want to say in a book that you weren’t able to say in the address?
Pausch: Well, the address was written quickly–in under a week. And it was time-limited. I had a fantastic six-hour address I could give, but I suspect it would have been less well loved at that part 
.
A book allows me to take in many, many more tales from my life and the attendant lessons I hope my kids can take from them. Also, much of my address at Carnegie Mellon all ears on the professional side of my life–my students, colleagues and career. The book is a far more personal look at my childhood dreams and all the lessons I’ve learned. Putting words on paper, I’ve establish, was a better way for me to share all the yearnings I have regarding my wife, children and additional loved ones. I knew I couldn’t have gone into persons subjects on stage lacking getting emotional.
Amazon.com: You talk about the importance–and the possibility!–of following your childhood dreams, and of keeping that childlike sense of marvel. But are there things you didn’t learn until you were a grownup that helped you do that?
Pausch: That’s a fantastic question. I reflect the most vital thing I learned as I grew older was that you can’t get anywhere lacking help. That means people have to want to help you, and that begs the question: What kind of person do additional people seem to want to help? That strikes me as a pretty excellent operational answer to the existential question: “What kind of person should you try to be?”
Amazon.com: One of the things that struck me most about your talk was how many additional people you talked about. You made me want to meet them and work with them–and judge me, I wouldn’t make much of a computer scientist. Do you reflect the people you’ve brought together will be your legacy as well?
Pausch: Like any teacher, my students are my largest professional legacy. I’d like to reflect that the people I’ve crossed paths with have learned something from me, and I know I learned a fantastic deal from them, for which I am very grateful. Certainly, I’ve dedicated a lot of my teaching to helping young folks realize how they need to be able to work with additional people–especially additional people who are very different from themselves.
Amazon.com: And last, the most vital question: What’s the secret for knocking down persons milk bottles on the midway?
Pausch: Two-part answer:
1) long arms
2) discretionary income / persistence
Really, I was never excellent at the milk bottles. I’m more of a ring toss and softball-in-milk-can guy, myself. More seriously, though, most people try these games once, don’t win immediately, and then give up. I’ve won *lots* of midway stuffed animals, but I don’t ever recall winning one on the very first try. Nor did I expect to. That’s why I reflect midway games are a fantastic metaphor for life.
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The shipping was very poor. Package of audio book was hurt when received. This was a groundbreaking new audio book. Unacceptable amazon shipping.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Cant comment – book was ordered by mistake subsequently agreed away unread. Sorry.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
i have not yet received the item and it is past the manner of language date. i am not impressed at all.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Left me wanting more, mainly because this guy seems overly infatuated with himself. If you want a lot of trite advice and self-aggrandizing this is the book for you.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Well this is the kind of book to share. I used it for my students. It is inspiring and wonderful. It can be applied to many situations. But, it seems like the dying professors writing best sellers (Tuesdays with Morrie) is like a new fad. While his insights and sharing is so right on target – what gets me is that he has the privilege to reflect and live these last days with such integrity and grace. In much of the USA people do not have this privilege. They are too apprehensive about pain and how to pay the bills. They can’t be writing best sellers and thinking such profound lofty thoughts. They are just trying to get by and die the best way they can. They are trying to live each moment. Pausch gives us the focus on learning to live while dying, but I reflect there needs to be some appreciation that he is a person of privilege writing for people of privilege.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5