The Last Lecture

Author: Randy Pausch

Recommended age group: Adults

Description: This is a beautiful small book that is re-readable and easy to manage. It has an incredibly positive message even though its creation was from such a sad beginning. Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science and was asked to give “The Last Lecture”.  An invitation given to people with the subject being a hypothetical ‘what wisdom would you impart if this were the last lecture of your life’? Months before his lecture was due to take place, he was told his pancreatic cancer was now terminal, so ironically this did indeed become his last lecture. His lecture became an opportunity to tell his three young children all the things he wanted them to know, advice for when they needed it, knowledge of who their dad was, and encouraging them to really chase their dreams throughout their life. It is an uplifting and inspiring story of a man who lived his best life, with many lessons we all could learn on what to focus on in our own. **A number of years after his death, his widow Jai Pausch wrote a book called “Dream New Dreams (Reimagining My Life After Loss)” which talks about her last months with Randy before his death, and the aftermath of solo parenting and raising children while still trying to grieve her own loss.  It is very honest and open and definitely worth a read.