Background

• The Last Lecture is one the bestselling book published in Great Britain in the
year 2008 by Hodder and Stoughton. The book was written by Randy Pausch
who is a Professor, Carnegie Mellon. This book is a non-fiction type.
• About auther
• Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch(October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was
an American professor of computer science and human-computer
interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania . Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September
2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: "3 to 6 months
of good health left". He gave an upbeat lecture entitled "
The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September
18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and
led to other media appearances. He then co-authored a book called The Last
Lecture on the same theme, which became a New York Times best-seller.
Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.
 Summary on “the last lecture”
Randy Pausch was a father of three young children and
married to the woman of his dreams.
• On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy
Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at
Carnegie Mellon University to 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.
 When he was a child his father was his hero who taught him,
what is life and how to be a good human being he would say
“Never make a decision until you have to.”
Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
• Randy Pausch outlines several of his childhood dreams and then
tells brief anecdotes of his brief life that corresponded with those
dreams.  Pausch wanted to be a Disney Imagineer.  He wanted to
play in the National Football League.  He wanted to author an
article in the World Book Encyclopedia and win stuff animals.  He
wanted to be Captain Kirk.
• These are incredible dreams, funny and thoughtful, and Pausch
uses each of these dreams and his ability to accomplish those
dreams to quickly relate fascinating life stories.   
• Pausch also made the point that he was born with the “lucky
ticket.”  Pausch felt blessed with everything from who his parents
were to living in the “Happiest Place on Earth.” 
• Dr. Pausch's legacy is built on what he calls the "head fake" or
indirect learning.
• The Last Lecture had a major component or theme of “time” and
helping others, his wife to cope with his limited amount of time,
helping his children through the Lecture and through his life
lessons.  How Pausch spent the time he had left, how he spent the
time throughout his life, and the importance of what you do with
you time was mentioned throughout this section. 
• Pausch related something he told a student that smacked with
reality – “I know you’re smart.  But everyone here is smart.  Smart
isn’t enough.  The kind of people I want on my research team are
those that will help everyone else feel happy to be here.”   So
obviously time was not enough.  Being good enough was not
enough.  Using that time to be better than you can be to positively
impact other people was an important message of The Last
Lecture.  That was how Randy Pausch lived his life. 
• He hasn't forgotten the instrumental people along the
way and, among many others, credits his parents with
helping him achieve his dreams and keeping him
grounded
• The final section of The Last Lecture included chapters
titled “Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder,” “Treat the
Disease and Not the Symptom” and “Don’t Obsess Over
What Other People Think” that summarized Pausch’s
general philosophy on life.  This section also included
chapters that were titled “Look for the Best in Everybody”
and “Watch What They Do, Not What They Say.”  These
brief chapters stressed the importance of being yourself,
getting the most out of being you and how to use that
ability to get the best out of those around you.
 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.
• Below are the summarized points:
• It is an easy time to dream when we are young (and happy) and we should never lose that
spirit.
• Experience is what you get if you don’t get what you wanted.
• When people drive you hard, they care about you.  They want you to be better.  When you are
doing a bad job and no one points it out to you, that is when they have given up on you.
• Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.
• Good parents are instrumental for us to achieve our childhood dreams.
• The importance of people versus things (people come first, always!).
• Never ever underestimate the importance of having fun.  Choose to have fun today, tomorrow,
and every day thereafter.
• Work and play well with others: (1) tell the truth, (2) apologize (properly), (3) wait, and people
will show their good sides.
• Tell the truth – integrity.
• A good apology has three parts.  (a) I am sorry, (b) it was my fault, (c) how do I make it right. 
Most people neglect the third part and fail to demonstrate sincerity.
• Be patience.  No one is pure evil.
• Show gratitude.
• Don’t complain, just work harder.
• If you lead your life the right way, if you live properly, the dreams will come to you.
Above are the points that he learned from his life and shares it with
us to get inspired by his knowledge and wisdom.This itself is an
inspirational book of wisdom followed to inspire people to achieve a
childhood dream.
He wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all
strive to make realities.
In it, Pausch discusses the importance of childhood dreams and how
to go about achieving them as one grows older. The major points of
his book include taking the time to dream, the importance of good
parents in a child’s life, and how to put people before materials.
Intertwined in the major themes of his lecture are Pausch’s own
personal anecdotes, complete with how he was able to turn his
boyhood dreams into reality, including becoming an Imagineer for
Walt Disney World, and creating the Alice software project.
The Last Lecture goes beyond the now-famous lecture to inspire us
all to live each day of our lives with purpose and joy