| Based on the extraordinary final lecture by Carnegie Mellon University professor Pausch, given after he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, this moving book goes beyond the now-famous lecture to inspire readers to live each day with purpose and joy.
From The Publisher:
"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 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 asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture 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 think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
Annotation:
In this inspiring and sometimes moving publishing phenomenon, computer science professor Randy Pausch offers a summation of his life and what he has learned. The book is derived from a presentation that Pausch made after he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Addressing his children, he spoke on the topic "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." When a tape of his talk was published on the YouTube website, it became a hit, as millions who viewed the clip found that his words struck a chord. Here he fleshes out and adds to his earlier work. What comes through is a gentle, sincere, and clear set of lessons on living and appreciating. (Randy Pausch passed away in July, 2008.)
|
