Book Review
"The Last Lecture"

By
Ben Miles

(Hyperion Books, 2008, 208 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4013-2325-7)

Carnegie Mellon University has a speakers series titled, "The Last Lecture." Many colleges offer such symposia, where professors are invited to present a talk to students, fellow faculty-members, and administrators reflecting upon education, values, and whatever the speaker considers to be the most important lesson(s) he or she can impart, as if it were their final chance to do so.

In the case of Carnegie Mellon computer science Professor Randy Pausch, however, requesting his participation in "The Last Lecture" program was more literal than usual. Indeed, Professor Pausch had been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer when he accepted the challenge of delivering a "Last Lecture" at the university. Pausch's topic--which he called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--became a Youtube sensation.

In it Pausch shows cat-scans of his tumor ridden pancreas, does one-armed push-ups, projects slide-images of his lovely family--a wife and three young children--and fills viewers with wholesome morsels of work-a-day wisdom, such as a prescription for apology-making. (Here Pausch assures us that "a bad apology is worse than no apology at all." Moreover, we learn that a proper apology has three parts: The wrongdoer must communicate--1. What I did was wrong. 2. I feel badly that I hurt you. 3. How do I make it better?)

After experiencing the video of Pausch's presentation, it's difficult not to be won over by the professor's mindful, albeit middlebrow, middleclass approach to living. In one memorable moment, Pausch declares, "I don't know how not to have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun." In this inspiring instant, Paucsh garners our unmitigated respect and appreciation, while allowing us to also consider, or reconsider, the meaning of our own lives.

Randy Pausch died on July 25, 2008, but his insight and wit are ours to keep--not only through video (see it at www.theLastLecture.com)--but also in a best-selling book (written with Jeffrey Zaslow), appropriately named, "The Last Lecture." The small reader--divided in to six simple sections--embeds within it the lecture points; they are worth reading and re-reading, just as the video bears watching and re-watching.

The book, in essence, is the story of Pausch's journey through "The Last Lecture" process. For instance, did he want to spend his last days prepping for a talk? Or, would he rather spend that time with his soon to be widowed wife and their children? That dilemma requires a thorough search of the soul. Pausch's nuanced chronicle makes that touching spiritual choice a vivid experience for readers. "The Last Lecture" hopefully won't be your last non-fiction reading assignment, but it may be the most important one that you've had in some time.