Reviewed by Taylor Hogan
Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, delivered his last lecture to reflect upon his fatal pancreatic cancer in September 2007.
With only six months to live at the time of his diagnosis, Pausch had to come to terms with the fact that he did not have much longer.
The speech given to his students, “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” was not only meant to serve as his last lecture but mainly as a guide for his three young children, Logan, Chloe, and Dylan, whom he would be leaving behind. This was his way of fathering his children and letting them know what kind of man he truly was.
The lecture, divided into sections containing aphorisms and sentimental thoughts to build the sincerity of the message, was supposed to be held on the day his wife, Jai Pausche, turned forty-one. Despite not spending her last birthday with him, she understood Randy’s situation and the fact that “an injured lion still wants to roar.”
The Last Lecture is a great book that I recommend highly for any mature readers. Randy Pausch’s speech deserves recognition without a doubt and is an eye-opening must read.
Taylor Hogan is a junior in the Gifted program at Hahnville High. She enjoys participating in softball and the art program at school.
Editor’s note: Book reviews are published weekly in agreement with Hahnville High School gifted English teacher Deborah Unger in conjunction with the Brown Foundation Service Learning Program.
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