The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Cancer" a word, a disease - has become a sad quintessential truth of our lives today. We see, hear and experience how cancer impacts individuals and their families and changes their life forever.

The Last Lecture was written by Randy Pausch, a Computer Science Professor at the University of Carnegie Mellon University who died at the age of 47 due to Pancreatic Cancer. The book is an adaptation of a talk he gave at the university. It was a part of series of lectures being developed at the university, wherein the professors were asked if this was the last lecture to be delivered by them, what would they say? What did they want to be their legacy?

Randy Pausch's lecture was titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", it gave a glimpse of the principles and values that Randy Pausch had based his life on. It was a make believe lecture on if you can dream it, you can achieve it. He gave real life examples about how to overcome obstacles that come in one's path in order to reach one's goal.

As he said, 'The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!"

The professor started the lecture by introducing his audience to the "elephant in the room" i.e. the cancerous tumours inside his body, and the fact that doctors said that he had only 3-6 months of healthy life left. He completely disregarded any sympathy that came his way. He was rather optimistic and believed that it was better to die this way, as one gets the time to prepare their near and dear ones of their departure. And that's exactly what he did, throughout the book, he has mentioned the various steps he was taking to ensure a healthy life for his wife and children. He infact, said that he gave the last lecture for his own kids, but it was great that it was helping others as well.

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you." remarked the ever optimistic professor.

Randy Pausch, told people that in order to really live your life, one must do things that one is passsionate about. He emphasised on the fact that all of us have a limited time here, and should spend it efficiently like money.

The book may be best described in his own words, "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 of itself. The dreams will come to you."

The Last Lecture came on to become a phenomenal success. It was on the New York Times bestsellers list from 2008 till the summer of 2011 and has been translated into 48 languages.

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