"The Last Lecture"
Randy Pausch, with Jeffrey Zaslow
Hyperion, $21.95
Get out the tissues.
Randy Pausch is dying. The computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon was given months to live because of the cancer that just won't go away. He is invited to give a last lecture, and his book "The Last Lecture," explains his process of figuring out how to say goodbye, how to leave the people he loves, the people who have been important to him throughout his life.
Dying or not, Pausch is an inspirational person. He achieved his dreams simply by trying for them, and he tries his darndest to impart that wisdom on everyone he knows and everyone he doesn't. It would have been awesome to watch him give his last lecture.
He's living like he was living, not living like he was dying.
Pausch is a good guy, the kind of guy that this stuff just shouldn't happen to. It's terribly sad to see that his family will have to live without him, that his daughter likely will have no memories of her father because when he dies she will still be too young to remember. It's hard to imagine how his wife is dealing, taking care of three young children and the man she loves as he drifts toward death.
The book is likely to make you cry, but it's just as likely to inspire you to go after your dreams. Pausch has some great advice, and it's unfortunate that the weight of his knowledge is only publicly known because he soon will be dead.
Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think. (p. 111)
