“The Last Lecture”

by Randy Pausch
& Jeffrey Zaslow
Published in 2008 by Hodder & Stoughton
Reviewed by Najeeb Anjum

Professor Randy Pausch's book ‘The Last Lecture’, may well deserve to be ranked as the best book of the year. Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who had been diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer. At Carnegie Mellon, Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on, what matters to them most and give a hypothetical talk.

When Pausch was asked to deliver such a lecture he did not have to think much and chose to speak on 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.' An hour long lecture to his former students and colleagues was literally his last lecture. Pausch died on 25 July, 2008. Jeffery Zaslow, a journalist covered it for a Wall Street Journal article which became an internet sensation viewed by millions online. His lectures reminded me of my younger brother who died of cancer at the age of 47 last year. He too, while in his last stage delivered last lecture as an expression of ever lasting love for his students.

As an educator I understand and believe in the value The Last Lecture book presents. Pausch, being an American middle class professional, portrays values which may have an underlying lesson for Pakistani families. Dismissal or rejection of these values by painting them Americans and not adaptable in our society will be a mere naivety or over simplistic statement. "The lecture was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful. But rest assured I'm hardly unique," wrote Pausch. The book leaped to the top of the non-fiction best-seller lists after its publication in April and remains there till this week. Pausch dictated this book to Zaslow during fifty-three long bike rides on his cell-phone headset and he called them fifty-three lectures.

The reasons Pausch gives for accepting the Carnegie Mellon's invitation to deliver the last lecture is grounded in his old fashioned values: how to teach his children what he would have taught them over the next twenty years was his foremost concern. Undoubtedly, Pausch emerges as a brave man who knows that his end is near. Rather than being sad or mellowed, he is cheerful and appears normal which leaves his audience spellbound. In The Last Lecture Pausch picks up enough courage with humour, wit and immediacy to tell his kids how to remember him.
It is not hard to understand the sensibilities lay hidden in this message if we take a closer look at the fragmented world around us. Pausch had lived out his dreams, in great measure, because of the things he was taught by all sorts of extraordinary people along the way. After reading the book one can not but appreciate the author for having spent an accomplished life and his lecture might help others find a path to fulfilling their own dreams. He fulfilled all his childhood dreams -- being in zero gravity, writing an article in the World Book Encyclopedia and working with the Walt Disney Co.

Pausch's father was a World War II medic who served in the Battle of the Bulge. He founded a nonprofit group to help immigrant's kids learn English. His mother was a tough, old-school English, enduring those parents who complained that she expected too much from kids. He grew up in the comfortably middle class area of Columbia, Maryland. "The instinct in our house was never to sit around like slobs. We knew a better way: Open the encyclopedia, Open the dictionary. Open your mind." He recalls his parents fondly and narrates various anecdotes highlighting the ways the children of middle class families were raised.

One lesson which Pausch learnt at football ground remained etched in his memory forever: Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. This one lesson, he says, the kids ignore even to their detriment. "It is not something you can give; it's something they have to build." Something highly appropriate in our society.
Pausch was never short of humour. When he and his wife went on their honeymoon they wanted to be left alone but on the insistence of his boss he came up with the perfect message, "if you can convince my new in-laws that their emergency merits are interrupting their only daughter's honeymoon, they have our number."The result was obvious he didn't get any calls.
One incident he narrates about his father is particularly impressive. His father died in 2006 and while going through his papers he found from the stack of papers a citation issued in 1945 from the Commanding general of the 75th Infantry Division for "heroic achievement." In recognition of his services he was awarded the Bronze Star for valour. The author was unaware of any such episode and it was only after his death he learnt the meaning of sacrifice and the power of humility.

The last part of the book 'It's About How to Live Your Life' provides practical and excellent advices on how to be a successful person? Pausch got tenure at the University a year earlier than people usually do and that seemed to impress other faculty members. When they asked him the secret of his accelerated promotion he said, "It's pretty simple. Call me any Friday night in my office at ten o'clock and I will tell you."
Not only did Pausch inspire millions suffering from incurable diseases but he has shown how to lead a fulfilled life till the end. This highly acclaimed book combined with humour, inspiration and intelligence must be read by teachers, parents and students alike.

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Issued on March 8, 2009 All rights reserved
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The Last Lecture