The Last Lecture- Book Review

If you only had a short time to live, what would you do?”, this thought-provoking thread led me to my third read in the biographical genre “The Last Lecture”. This is a 2008 New York times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Jeffrey Zaslow. It is a non-fiction book written on the last lecture delivered by Professor Randy Pausch when he was diagnosed and fighting with pancreatic cancer, being married to the woman of his dream and having three little children. Randy wanted to leave a legacy for his children, a guide to achieve their dreams.

The book is divided into five units, written succinctly, simple language and in a phenomenal way. It will compel the reader to be in the author’s shoes and feel the emotion of the umpteen life lessons that the writer has conveyed, some of which will hit right on the face. One of it was the striking excerpt from the chapter, An injured lion still wants to roar, “Many people might expect the talk to be about dying, but it had to be about living”. How small things can be expressed in an extra ordinary and thought inducing manner is the very essence of this book. The author’s journey of fighting a terminal disease while being cognizant of his limited time will leave the reader in awe, because in today’s scenario where hustle culture is glorified, there is barely any time to cherish the little moments of life. 

“Achieving our childhood dreams”, this is another topic where the author has thrown light through his book. Pausch describes an event about his childhood and how his parents were the biggest support in bringing him closer to achieving his childhood dreams. He beautifully quoted “I won the Parent Lottery, I was born with the winning ticket”. In every chapter, the author has gorgeously depicted a true event of his life in the first half and in the second half, he emphasizes on the valuable life lesson that he learnt from that event.

This book touches deep and it will change your perspectives about life. Just as he said “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” and he did exactly that. Though he knew that he was running out of time, but he didn’t succumb to the grief, instead he tried to seize every opportunity for creating memories for his family and friends with him. Life is all about meaningful relationships because at the very end, that’s what you look back to. 

The author has combined his wisdom with hope, humour, sincerity, inspiration and moral: “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted and experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer”. The conclusions and insights imparted from this book will definitely provide solutions in some or the other situation in your life.

Some of the parts that has touched the core of my heart were “A skill set called Leadership”, “Not all fairy tales end smoothly”, “The truth can set you free”, “Don’t complain, just work harder”, “Treat the disease, not the symptom”, “Look for the best in everybody”, “Watch what they do, not what they say”, “The lost art of Thank-you notes”, “Loyalty is a two-way street”, “All you have to do is Ask”.

This book is absolutely added to my list of favourites and I will recommend everyone to read it at least once in their lifetime because it will move you immensely that how a dying man lived thirty years of his life in a matter of a few months and even in death came out a winner who never quit. This book is an eye-opener to the fact that life is unpredictable and we should be grateful for our blessings and should not have any regrets. 

The Last Lecture- An ultimate guide on how to live your life to the fullest.