He then drops to the stage and begins doing pushups. The first slide is an image of a recent CT scan showing ten tumors growing in his liver. The audience is comprised of over 400 students and fellow faculty of Carnegie Mellon as well as his wife Jai.

He continues to tweak his slideshow of images throughout the next day and is still rearranging slides when he takes the stage that evening. He works late into the night, still struggling to condense the story of his entire life into a one-hour talk. On September 17th, 2008, the day before he is due to speak at Carnegie Mellon, Pausch flies to Pittsburgh. The speech takes him four days to assemble, during which he takes regular breaks to interact with his family. He compiles hundreds of photographs which chronicle his life from youth to present day. He titles his last lecture “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”īeing a visual thinker, Pausch bases the speech on images rather than words. He wants to center the lecture around his childhood dreams, how he managed to achieve most of them, and advice which he hopes might help others to achieve their aspirations as well. Rather, he wants his final work to be about living. “An injured lion,” he says, “still wants to roar.” Having won over his wife, Pausch dedicates himself to crafting his last lecture.ĭespite his condition, Pausch decides that he doesn't want to talk about dying.

Long after he's gone, this lecture will remain. Pausch hopes that this lecture, which will be recorded on video tape for posterity, will one day give his children some idea of who their father was and what he stood for. His two-year-old son Logan and one year old daughter Chloe will have no memories of him at all. He will grow up with very few memories of his father. His eldest child Dylan is only five years old. Pausch explains that it was not despite his children, but rather for them that he has agreed to give to this lecture. Why, with so little time left, would he decide to devote so much of it to an academic pursuit rather than to his beloved wife and children? His beloved wife Jai, whom he has always regarded as his biggest 'cheerleader,' was initially opposed. The novel opens with Randy Pausch attempting to explain why he even agreed to give a 'last lecture' in the first place.

Written by Catherine Jones, Sugey Corona, Mally Martin and other people who wish to remain anonymous We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch