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The Last Lecture

By Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow

(311)

| Hardcover | 9781401323257

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Book 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 Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences canContinue

Critics

THE LAST LECTURE

Can you enjoy a story when you know the ending? We all know we are going to die someday, but for computer scientist Randy Pausch, “someday” came into focus back in August 2007, when he learned that his pancreatic cancer had metastasized to his liver ... (read full critics)

teenreads published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

THE LAST LECTURE

Can you enjoy a story when you know the ending? We all know we are going to die someday, but for computer scientist Randy Pausch, “someday” came into focus back in August 2007, when he learned that his pancreatic cancer had metastasized to his liver ... (read full critics)

teenreads published on Mon, 13 Sep 2010

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30 Reviews

3 people find this helpful

The only regret I have about this book or the last lecture of Prof. Randy Pausch, now a phenomenal YouTube sensation, is that I haven't got round to watching his last lecture earlier when it first came up on 18 September 2007. I read this book first and watched his last lecture and got totally blow ... (continue)

The only regret I have about this book or the last lecture of Prof. Randy Pausch, now a phenomenal YouTube sensation, is that I haven't got round to watching his last lecture earlier when it first came up on 18 September 2007. I read this book first and watched his last lecture and got totally blown away. Randy, a computer science professor of Carnegie Mellon University diagnosed with terminal cancer, is truly a man of wisdom and virtues, and I am eternally grateful for his legacy of this great last lecture.
Randy's last lecture is titled "Really achieving your childhood dreams", but as he said it, it is about how to live your life in the right way. Many of the things said by him are cliches (he admitted it and even said in the book that he loves cliches), e.g. find something y0u are passionate about and work hard on it, listen to criticisms, help others achieve their dreams etc., but they are often right. His sayings encompass all forms of positive thinking and I really admire him for pursuing his dreams and persevering against all odds. We have been faced with too many setbacks in our life that sometimes we give up too soon by telling ourselves that "life is too short and take it easy". Randy's lecture steers us back to the right track that we really have to work hard on what we believe in and not to settle for anything less.
I recommend everyone to watch Randy's last lecture - the 1-hour lecture is truly inspiring and awesome and contains dozens of quotable quotes such as:
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
"The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
Then read the book which expands on many of the teachings in the lecture and elaborates on the background to some of his experiences, including the courting of his wife (which was not mentioned in the lecture). I particularly like the chapter on Randy's encounter with "Captain James T. Kirk" which explains leadership by using the Star Trek as an illustration and does it better than any management book I have ever read.
He is a strong man. I wish him well.

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Tracy W said on Jun 28, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Without losing love, it is hard to understand how precious you life is.
Lead your life in the right way, the dreams will come true.
An ordinary person makes an extraordinary life.
The best book I have read in recent years.

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Philosophiae said on Jun 23, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

What would you do when you know the end date of your life? Professor Paush told us that apart from doing preparation for family, we can also record down all the "lessons" we learnt during our life time. All these could benefit the others, not just only those are close to you, those are next door, bu ... (continue)

What would you do when you know the end date of your life? Professor Paush told us that apart from doing preparation for family, we can also record down all the "lessons" we learnt during our life time. All these could benefit the others, not just only those are close to you, those are next door, but also people in the globe that can read and access to Internet...
Really enjoyed reading the chapter of "Be the First Penguin”. It told us that failure is not something stupid but can showcase your courage on trying and keep you on the road to success – when you try, you keep eliminating all the possible pitfalls.
The ultimate lecture that Professor Paush wanted to give us is, Always Remember to Show your Gratitude to the others, especially your beloved ones.

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Antoinette said on Jul 17, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If your lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dream will come to you.
Lots of useful advices to remind as proper ways to lead our life. The art of his sentence ivoke me to have b ... (continue)

It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If your lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dream will come to you.
Lots of useful advices to remind as proper ways to lead our life. The art of his sentence ivoke me to have better attitude, also digest the part how to dealing with others (group), time management, and invictus spirit! (The story that he applied for Carnegie Mellon.)

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Bionut said on Feb 27, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

This was a very good book I would recommend to all people. The author got a terminal disease with 3 to 6 months of life remaining, but he was not beaten. He had lived a great and fruitful life in around forty-year of age, achieved most of his dreams, including experiencing the zero gravity, workin ... (continue)

This was a very good book I would recommend to all people. The author got a terminal disease with 3 to 6 months of life remaining, but he was not beaten. He had lived a great and fruitful life in around forty-year of age, achieved most of his dreams, including experiencing the zero gravity, working as the Imagineer in Disneyland and developing the virtual reality world. All his legacies were very inspiring to me.
Randy finally presented his last lecture for the audience, and most importantly, for his beloved kids to know him better when they would grow up without him. In his talk, Randy emphasized the importance of having childhood dreams and the ways to lead our lives. He talked about the basic principles of life: have fun, have dreams, good time management, hard-work, kindness to others, persistence, be prepared, honesty etc. All of these were well-known and yet easily-forgotten. I therefore particular like Chapter V - It's about how to live. It was a summary of his way of life.
　
"Luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity."
"even if I was in a position of strength, whether at work or in relationships, I had to play fair. Just because you’re in the driver’s seat, doesn’t mean you have to run people over."
"Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process."
"The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something…are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people."
"I just want you to know that it feels great to be alive, and to be here today, alive with you. Whatever news we get about the scans, I’m not going to die when we hear it. I won’t die the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. So today, right now, well this is a wonderful day. And I want you to know how much I’m enjoying it."
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Time management: 1. Time must be explicitly managed, like money, it doesn't matter how well you polish the underside of the banister; 2. You can always change your plan, but only if you have one; 3. Are you spending your time on the right things? 4. Delegate; 5. Take a time out.
Raising the White Flag: sometimes, surrendering is the right thing to do, particular to the one you love.
Don't Complain, Just Work Harder: 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.
Don't Obsess Over What People Think: Don't let others worry about what I'm thinking. And you yourself don't obsess over what others think. You will be 33% more efficient.
Start By Sitting Together: find things you have in common; let everyone talk, don't finish someone's sentence; phrase alternatives as questions to allow people to offer comments rather than defend one choice.
Watch What They Do, Not What The Say: when it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.
Be the First Penguin: Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.
Show Gratitude: I could never adequately pay him back, so I just have to pay it forward. Go out and do for others what somebody did for you.
All You Have Is What You Bring With You: One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.
All You Have to Do Is Ask
Make a Decision: Tigger or Eeyore: I'm going to keep having fun everyday I have left. Because there's no other way to play it. I could pack a lot of fun into those thirty years. But if that's not to be, then I'll just pack fun into whatever time I do have.
The Input of Others: Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone.

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Candy said on Jan 5, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

It is a second time to read this book. The writer is a very interesting and a good performer in his lecture. Honestly, his presentation in his last lecture is more interesting, worth to watch this lecture in youtube.

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Coke said on Sep 23, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback