This was my first attempt to read an e-book. Being old school I always prefer reading the printed book over the e-book. I wanted to read this book and found it available online I decided to give it a go. And I must confess that reading it online didn’t tickle my fancy, but the content was so captivating and riveting that I couldn’t stop until I finished.
Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He also was one of the pioneers who helped develop Alice Software, a programming tool that is free and widely used by students to create 3D animations and games within a drag and drop development environment.
It was a custom on the CMU campus for professors to deliver their last lecture considering their demise and last chance to speak. What would be words of wisdom they would like to impart to the next generation as a legacy to leave behind. Professor Randy was invited too to share his invaluable experiences and thoughts. However, it indeed turned out to be his lecture. At first, he was reluctant because after being diagnosed with cancer, he wanted to spend all his time with his wife and children rather than devoting hours to writing the lecture. But later he realized how badly he wanted to do it. He believed It might help his children better understand who their father was, what was he like, and how much he cared for his children. Though he was on his last legs and had just a few months to live he didn’t let it reflect in his lecture. Rather he talked about his life, his achievements, his dreams, and his goals and titled his talk “Really achieving your childhood dreams.“
Jeffrey Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist, attended the Last Lecture and helped put it together in a form of a book that not only inspired millions but also fueled their enthusiasm to dream big and pursue them with great might. It’s not just a book, it’s the author’s(Randy Pausch) life journey, his story about how he chased and lived out his dreams. Indeed a must-read for all. A few good quotes from the book…
“That is what it is. We can’t change it. We just have to decide how we’ll respond. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
“The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
