Randy Pausch The Last Lecture

“Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?” That is how Professor Randy Pausch, from Carnegie Mellon, began his last lecture, a speech entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” while in fact he was dying of Pancreatic Cancer. He knew he only had months left to live and put together this last lecture to read to his students. His lecture focuses in on points such as the importance of: making sincere apologies, not whining, being gracious and being humble. To stress his thoughts and views on life and following one’s dreams, Randy Pausch used a great amount of repetition, metaphors, allusion, humor, ethos, and pathos in his last lecture.

In Randy Pausch 's "Last Lecture," Randy discusses how he achieved all of his childhood dreams throughout his life and how he helped others achieve their dreams. Often times, childhood dreams are forgotten due to life stressors, other opportunities and interests that come along and, ultimately, believing that those childhood dreams are unachievable. However, this was not the case for Randy Pausch. Randy created a list of things that he desired to experience throughout his lifetime, and through persistency, acceptance and some modification, he was able to complete his list. Similar to many children 's "being an astronaut" dream, Randy had a couple dreams that seemed impossible. These seemingly impossible dreams on Randy 's list included: "being in zero gravity," "playing in the NFL," and "being Captain Kirk." While Randy never received the opportunity to play football for the NFL, his understanding and lessons learned from his football experiences made up for this shortcoming. Nonetheless, Randy was able to conquer all of his other dreams. With each dream Randy discusses, he explains each "brick wall" he hit along his way and what he did to get around these walls.

You would think a man dying of cancer would not be so happy and willing to spend the last few months of his life giving a lecture. But, Randy Pausch, who has 10 tumors in his liver, does not want people to pity him for having cancer. Rather, he wants to teach people how to follow their childhood dreams. Looking at the seven elements of communication we see how he is so effective in his last lecture.

In the novel, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow, Pausch recalls painting his bedroom walls after the permission of his parents. If my parents gave me permission to paint my bedroom walls, I would first paint on my favorite quotes on one wall. They could be quotes from my favorite books, movies, or important historical figures. For example, Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” is a quote that I have to remember to follow when I am afraid to become a leader and change what needs to be changed in life. Basically, the quotes would be up on the wall just so I can look at them everyday for inspiration, or when I need them when I hit rock bottom. In addition, I would paint on all the ideas and hobbies

A seminar series titled “The Last Lecture” took place at Carnegie Mellon University. Professors were prompted to deliver lectures as if it was their last, while containing a “message of a lifetime”. Professor Randy Pausch delivered his speech titled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” as a part of this seminar on September 18th, 2007, a time in which had just been given life-threatening news. It had recently been estimated by doctors that this was the last three to six months of his life. Instead of speaking as if he was hypothetically dying like his fellow professors, Pausch was in an extremely ironic situation, as for in his case he really was dying, of pancreatic

In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, the reader learns about Mr. Pausch himself. The reader learns about his past, present, and his future. They also learn about what type of person Mr. Pausch was. The most important part that Mr. Pausch wanted his audience to remember his experiences that we may face, his advice, and his family.

I couldn’t imagine going through the same situation as Randy Pausch, it’s possibly the hardest thing to hear. With that in mind, I would have to try to make the best out of it; like Paucsh said “You have to decide whether you are a Tigger or Eyeore. With strength and pain I would try my best to always be the fun-loving Tigger in my last moments. My decision would be to spend my last moments doing what I love with the people who are closest to me. The memories that you make will over power having all the materialistic things in the world.

4. The title of the book The Last Lecture is pretty self-explanatory. Randy Pausch, the author of the novel, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is to kill him in a short amount of time. The title “The Last Lecture” simply stands for the last lecture he gave at Carnegie Melon University. Pausch says, “The obvious part is being with, and taking care of, my family. While I still can, I embrace every moment with them, and do the logistical things necessary to ease their path into a life without me. The less obvious part is how to teach my children what I would have taught them over the next twenty years. They are too young now to have those conversations. All parents want to teach their children right from wrong, what we think is important, and how to deal with the challenges life will

At the beginning of this semester, I would never have imagined that a book I was being forced to read for a Dual Credit English course would end up meaning so much to me, or touch me in the way that it did. Reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch touched my heart in more ways than just one and opened my mind to many new ideas. In this book, Randy finds out he is dying of cancer, and his whole world is flipped around. He comes to the realization that his time on Earth in finite and coming to a close. Randy became determined to use his last bit of time he had alive on Earth in a positive way and in a way that would leave a positive impact behind for his family, friends, coworkers and everyone in between.

The most inspiring part of Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" was his attitude. The way he started out by saying he was not their to talk about his cancer or his family and the way he focused on such a basic thought, as childhood dreams and their importance, was highly insightful. Mr. Pausch wasn't dwelling on what he has yet to do, but instead focuses on the dreams he has already achieved. When he spoke of being offered the job as a Disney Imagineer and turning it down, that was a very empowering decision. He had the ability to achieve one of his childhood dreams and chose not to. It shows how we can adapt those childhood dreams to our lives as we grow and become different things throughout our lives.

What would you do if you found out that you had pancreatic cancer and only had three to six months of good health left? In“The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch he embraces what cards he was handed to with in his life. That is why this novel is inspiring. I believe that it is an inspiration, because Pausch persevered through hard times, he never gave up his childhood dreams, and he always tried to be the best person that he could be. Pausch was put through a lot throughout his life, a lot of ups and downs.

Reading about about man knowing of his death but still “living like I’m still living” (182). He appears very tranquil in the face of death, and one cannot help but listen to his advice. Because Pausch is a professor he feels trustworthy automatically especially because teachers and professors are seen as mentors. Pausch even mentions one of his professors as a mentor. Pausch is also very fatherly, even when he was not actually a dad he understood that kids would spill in his car, therefore he is very calm, thus people trust his advice. The way he write is a key factor to the book. He is so short and to the point that when he gives advice it sounds so simple that it makes one wonder how they never thought about that before. This type of writing is what makes his advice stick with the reader, it makes the book memorable.

The Ted Talk By Isacc Lidsky is an interesting speech that convey a very important message. Lidsky starts his argument with a fascinated story of a little girl talking with her dad about the gold fish. Lidsky uses this story to tell his experience in a very rhythmic way of presenting. As he says that the father of the little girl, explain that the fishes "swims backwards by wagging his head" to his little girl. Lidsky uses this phrase to show the matter of factly. This is a common fact that everyone knows that fish can not swim backwards and and absolutely not by wagging their heads. however the little girl accepted because her father told her. Lidsky uses this story to clear his point and he makes a rhythmic and powerful analogy that, people

Randy Pausch gives advice to his students in his last lecture. Use examples from his lecture to answer the question: What is good advice? Your answer should be an essay with two or three body paragraphs and quotes from the text to illustrate your thinking. Follow the RACER format.

This report is based upon the book “The Last Lecture”, written by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow published in 2008. It is a motivational book about living while dying. The book emerged after Randy Pausch, a professor who had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, gave a lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at Carnegie Mellon University. The book described Randy's life which focuses on the importance of achieving dreams, of overcoming obstacles, and of seizing every moment. There are several elements described in this current book report: information about the authors, informative summary, overall analysis, and my personal reaction to the