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 enlarge | Author: Zaslow, Randy, Jeffrey Pausch
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $7.85
You Save: $7.10 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  793 reviews
Sales Rank: 7256353
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B0017L9VCE
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 A must read !! November 8, 2008
A positively moving book from beginning to end. You will laugh, you will cry and you will be thankful you are alive!
 Last Lecture November 8, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Took two tries to get this gift book delivered, but they finally got it there.
The Last Lecture November 5, 2008
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is an autobiography of Pausch's life. It has some assistance from his friend and superior, Jeffrey Zaslow. Pausch starts off his book, right into the issue, which is that of his stages of pancreatic cancer. He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, as he was supposed to give his "last lecture" for the university, something that a lot of professors do, he never thought that it could very well be his last lecture of life as well. So Pausch decided to make his Last Lecture about his life, and enjoying every single minute of what he has accomplished and how others should do the very same thing. He entitled the lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." This was how he approached his speech and he had it sectioned into different dreams he had as a child and he explained how somehow, someway in his life has accomplished those dreams. Whether indirectly or directly, he did it. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2006 and died just this past July, 2008. He has three children, two young boys and a baby girl, and a wife, Jai. Jai was his backbone throughout everything Randy had to endure. He had also always said that part of the reason he was doing his "last lecture" was so that his kids could see how great of a man he was and just how many people loved him. He really was loved by so many people because he had helped so many out and gave recommendations for his students to make sure they the opportunities that he was given. The book doesn't end the way you would assume, with death, but it ends with a life lesson. The lesson is to enjoy your life and fulfill your dreams. Randy wanted people to love him for the life he lived but not because he was dead or dying.
This book did not have very much detail within his cancer development. He made subtle remarks about how it was progressing and how Jai, his wife, had been there to help him get his chemotherapy and make sure the children did not worry too much about their father. I don't think I would use this book in particular to describe cancer and its biology but maybe the way it affects certain people. I think that cancer affected Randy Pausch in a positive way, if that's even possible. Positive maybe too harsh of a word but it definitely affected him in a good way. He learned to love and appreciate and wanted to share that with the people around him as well as the people he could not reach. So overall, cancer, on an emotional level, this book reaches that aspect but on a biology level, it does lack.
Personally, this book did affect me. I read most of it while I was in Canada. My best friend's grandmother was obsessed with this book and insisted that I read it as well, and that I did. I read mostly in the early morning on the hot rocks that faced the lake. I was so impressed with how beautiful Canada was that sometimes I would just watch the shine of the sun on the waters. I realized that there was a definite connection for why I was reading this very book while on my first out-of-country experience. I was learning my first "life lesson " via Randy Pausch. He was teaching me to be thankful and joyous I have these opportunities. I am thankful and I am thankful it took a book to help me come to that realization. I would recommend this book to every single person over the age of 16 because once you hit that age, your responsibilities only seem to grow. I would have to say this book was an escape for me and I really think that anyone can let it be anything they wish for it to be. Overall, this book hit a special, sensitive spot for me and I am very glad that I have read it.
---Brittany Billings, Student of Andrea Stonebraker
Dont be afraid to dream November 4, 2008
I first heard about this lecture from my wife. A friend had sent her the video link and she sent it to me. I watched this and was so moved by Dr. Randy Pausch's lecture and outlook on life that I had to buy his book. Even though he only had a short time to live during the writing of his lecture and subsequent book, he never gave up on life. There are so many important points in this book that we can all learn from that I have read this book three time now, underlining the points I want my wife and friends to learn. Dr. Randy Pausch was an amazing man and my prayers go out to his family, but his legecy will live on. I strongly recomend parent read this to your children.
And remember
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as of you will die tomorrow.
The Last Lecture November 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought this book was excellent. This was my selection for my monthly book club and I felt I had given the other members a "gift" by having them read this book. I want to go back with a yellow highlighter and mark some of the parts that I thought were especially important. I recommend this book for all ages of people.
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