The Last Lecture

I first heard of Randy Pausch and The Last Lecture on a television special. I could not watch the program, so when I saw his book at our local food market I decided to buy it. Biography being one of my favorite literary genres, I began reading as soon as I arrived home and did not put it down until I read the last word.

Randy Pausch is a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He is an award-winning teacher and researcher, and has worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the Alice project. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children (From the book jacket).

This book was conceived when Pausch, already diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, was approached about participating in Carnegie Mellon’s “Last Lecture Series.” The series is designed to give professors an opportunity to “consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them…to offer reflections on their personal and professional journeys.” The interesting aspect of Pausch’s Last Lecture is that it really is his last lecture. In fact, there was some question as to whether or not he would even survive long enough to give it. With so little time left, relatively speaking, he even questioned whether to spend his last few months of life preparing to give this speech. He and his wife Jai went back and forth about doing it, evaluating his motives, the time it would take to do it, and how he would be able to give it. Three good reasons remained: his children Dylan, Logan and Chloe. He writes,

While considering how to do this, Pausch realized that the things that mattered to him most came to him through accomplishing his dreams. Everyone has dreams for who they think they want to be when they grow up. As a child, Pausch had big dreams, some of them strange and some of them grand. On a slide from his talk, he lists them: being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, and being a Disney Imagineer. What makes Pausch unique is that he lived out many of his dreams.

His last lecture wasn’t simply about achieving one’s childhood dreams, though. Pausch details special people who helped him along the way, significant events, important lessons he learned, risks he took, hard work, and all the good and bad along the way. He creatively packaged in about an hour what most parents spend a couple of decades repeatedly teaching and sharing with their kids.

The main thing that this book lacks, and Pausch realizes it, is a discussion of his relationship with God. He writes, "I was raised by parents who believed that faith was something very personal. I didn't discuss my specific religion in my lecture because I wanted to talk about universal principles that apply to all faiths -- to share things I had learned through my relationships with people." Not only does Pausch ignore faith in this book, he does not really discuss anything of ultimate importance to life. He worked hard and fulfilled his dreams. He never gave up. He made good decisions. He stayed true to himself. And his advice centers around those themes. While there is nothing wrong with that, it seems shallow in the face of death. Even when he wrote about something less self-centered, like the importance of investing in the lives of others, he wrote about how it benefited himself in the end.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Pausch's story, probably mostly because I enjoy reading about people. He has lived an interesting life. I laughed a few times (this stands out to me because I read very little that makes me laugh). But as I consider the book as a whole, I have to admit that Pausch's story left me feeling very sad. I finished it asking myself, "Is that it?" Yes, he achieved everything he ever wanted. But everything in this world is passing away. All of our accomplishments and toys will either rust out, yield to age and decay, or be forgotten.

I guess the main take-away from this book for me is that life is precious. It is important that I make the most of my time here, pouring into my children and the people nearest me all the "wisdom" and love and truth and lessons of faith that I can. Spending my life in love and service to Jesus and people will go with me to eternity. I have no idea when my time here may be up. I don't want to waste it on myself.