The Last Lecture

I was asked to update


‘The Last Lecture’ is a book written by Randy Pausch with the assistance from Jeffrey Zaslow. It is the book that I’ve been reading these few days, for the second time. It is a rather thin book at about 200 pages; however, it consists of one lifetime wisdom of the author. Randy Pausch is a distinguished computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, a devoted husband and a loving father to his 3 young children. At 46, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the worst among all cancers that kills half the patients within 6 months and 96% of them within 5 years.

‘The Last Lecture’ is not an uncommon topic. At many places, a lot of professors were requested to deliver the same topic by addressing what is most important to them should the lecture be their last lecture. For Randy, the invitation to participate in the Carnegie Mellon’s last lecture series turned out to be his truly last lecture. Hesitated between spending his time to prepare for the talk and devoting fully to his family, Randy chose to go up on the stage for that one last time for his family, the people he cared about, the people who cared about him and the tribute to his academic career. Among his many choices, Randy chose the topic “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” for his lecture, one that he deemed would be most appropriate to tell the story of his life. The lecture was certainly not about dying but about living. There, Randy told the story of his life and how his childhood dreams made him the unique Randy today. The book covered everything presented in his lecture with additional information he didn’t manage to bring into that 1 hour.

I haven’t watched his video but the book told me a great deal about this optimistic and fun loving gentleman. Randy wasn’t a top notch millionaire or super genius scientist. He worked hard in his field, dedicated his life to education, devoted himself to his family and lived his dreams, childhood dreams. At times, he sounded self-infatuated and preachy when he talked about all the great things that happened in his life and the things that he admired very much. Either he lived a life too good to be true or he was excessively optimistic, I guess it’s the latter. For Randy Pausch to pack 1 life time into a 1 hour lecture and a book, he had certainly tried his best given the time constrain.

There are two particularly interesting parts of Randy’s life. First would be his childhood experience. “I won the parent lottery” is how he started one part in his book. Randy was born into a fine middle class family where he was blessed with his very inspiring parents. His parents were working middle class people who were actively engaged in charity works. They didn’t live a luxurious life and weren’t fans of materialistic possessions but they were never stingy on buying books. Dictionary was often part of their dinner.

In Randy’s life, his father was a great source of motivation for him. Throughout the book, he quoted his father numerous times and depicted himself talking as channeling his father’s words. His father was an advocator of creativity; Mr old Randy even supported Randy to splash his creativity on the walls of his childhood bedroom. Guess what Randy had painted on his walls, a quadratic formula (-b +- … /2a , owh so geeky), fake elevator doors, a pandora’s box with hope, magic mirror and so on amusing little things that he deemed important for him. Given the freedom granted by supportive and open minded parents, Randy had been able to dream wild and big in his life, and to go all out in pursuing his dreams. How envious I am.

Randy's Childhood Dreams

• experience 0 gravity - achieved
• play in the NFL - X achieved
• become Disney Imagineer - achieved
• write for the world book encyclopedia - achieved
• become captain Kirk - met him
• Win giant stuffed animal at amusement park - achieved

What are your/my childhood dreams?

"The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brink walls are there to give us a chance to how badly we want something."

The second part would be what Randy explained as the most formidable brick wall he had ever come upon in his life. By now, you might wonder what was the biggest stumbling block for this financially, intellectually and socially successful man. The wall was just 5 feet, 6 inches tall, she is Jai, the woman who became Randy’s wife. They met each others in an academic occasion when Randy was invited to University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was 39, a guest speaker, and she was 31, a graduate student (a much older version of teacher-student relationship? lol).

Prior to knowing Jai, Randy was well recognized as “a player who would never settle down”, which is rare in the computer geeks community? lol. He was attracted to Jai at first sight and had soon begun to flirt and ooze his charm. Well informed of Randy’s reputation, Jai hesitated at the outset but soon, still succumbed to his roses and cards, and their long distance relationship blossomed. Soon, Randy was already making arrangement to get Jai to move near his place. Just as things seemed perfectly fine, Randy was thrown a surprise by Jai – “I just … I just don’t love you the way you want me to love you … I don’t love you”. Horrified and heartbroken, he called home, crying to his parents and asking for help (a 39 years old!?). Being encouraging as usual, his parents gave him some genuine advices :

“If she doesn’t really love you, then it’s over. And if she does love you, then love will win out.” ~dad
“Be supportive … If you love her, support her” ~mom

And so, he stayed around and sneaked around her everyday just to make sure that she is alright. Few days later, the wall crumbled, she called back and soon, she moved over to him. Romance of a computer geek? Lol

Towards the end of the book, Randy offered more of his personal insights, encounters and advices. I will let you all to discover them yourself. Some of them are in fact very sensible and thought provoking especially in the matter of how unpredictable life can be. Most importantly, he presented them full of optimism, humors and sincerity even when his health was failing him. Perhaps as you read the book, you may not agree on some of his exceptionally optimistic ideas that appear rather unrealistic, to the extent that he may sound arrogant (He studied at Brown, then Carnegie Mellon, worked with Disney, Google, Electronic Arts....Can he not be proud? lol) Anyway, this is his book, his life and his experience which he is extremely grateful and happy with. This man knew his principles, believed in his life and lived his life maybe more than some of us alive. After all, the lecture and the book were convened for one simple reason/intention – Randy’s children, for Randy to speak to them and for them to meet their loving dad. We are just blessed enough to share a glimpse of the father’s earnest messages to his children.

"Almost all of us have childhood dreams; for example, being an astronaut, or making movies or video games for a living. Sadly, most people don’t achieve theirs, and I think that’s a shame. I had several specific childhood dreams, and I’ve actually achieved most of them. More importantly, I have found ways, in particular the creation (with Don Marinelli), of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center of helping many young people actually *achieve* their childhood dreams." - Randy Pausch, Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008

Randy Pausch was 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 was an award-winning teacher and researcher, and worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the non-profit Alice project. (Alice is an innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming to young people via storytelling and interactive game-playing.) He also co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon with Don Marinelli. (ETC is the premier professional graduate program for interactive entertainment as it is applies across a variety of fields.) Randy lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008.

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to arrogant deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.
Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.