The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This particular book is based on the speech delivered by a professor Randy Pausch. Given the theme of the event, professor Pausch is actually going to deliver his last lecture as he was given just few months to live, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Professor Pausch delivers a remarkable and inspiring lecture “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, while flashing his CT scans in the auditorium amongst the students. The speech was so impressive that it conquered the Internet within no time and was viewed over by millions of users.

Impressed by the response that he got from the lecture, professor Pausch decided to team up with his fellow alumni Jeffrey Zaslow to write a book of the same name “The Last Lecture”. The book also follows the similar premise of living one’s life to the fullest potential as if the given moment is our last one.

There are some short stories given in the book which focus on living life with a clear vision, humour and brilliance in order to achieve one’s goals simultaneously dealing with the challenges and obstacles thrown at us. Also, a person should not focus solely on his or her dreams but help others achieving theirs’ too.

In the book, professor Pausch quotes, “Time is all you have… and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”

The book was a best seller for 85 weeks as per New York Times and 4.5 million plus copies were sold all over the US. The book has been translated into various other languages since. Subsequent to publishing of the book, Randy Pausch presented himself to the US Congress. He stressed on the need for more financial backing into the research of pancreatic cancer.