Randy Pausch The Last Lecture Analysis

“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.

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.

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.

“’So what’s your story?’” she then then replies “’I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when-‘” He interrupts and says “’No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, etcetera… Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely’” (Green, 32).

Like Randy Pausch, we had childhood dreams. He wanted to be a NFL football player. I wanted to be a WWE wrestler. However, despite our differences both of our childhood dreams and goals have changed.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is a compilation of stories and advice from Pausch. He includes excerpts from the lecture itself; as well as other experiences that contribute to the theme of the book. The book focuses on the achievement of dreams. Pausch expresses the importance of living every day to its fullest potential. He states that “It’s not about how you achieve your dreams. Its about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you” (Page 205/206) .

According to “ The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch, I realized that this book brings me words of comfort during life excessive worry and chaos .This book brings optimistic encouragement of a patient, and not because it was written by a university professor . If we know in next month we will die, we will panic. To me, I think I would be very awkward, miserable, depressed. But the author is very courage to face that not everyone can do it. Thanks to this lecture, I'm confident and love life than when I know the author said that he was very grateful to have been informed about the death because that allowed him to prepare for the future of his families and have the opportunity to do his last lecture. He seems to enjoy his life even if his life

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

Randy Pausch was a teacher, who taught his students valuable lessons dealing with Virtual Reality and also with life. He spoke countless lectures in multiple colleges, like the University of Virginia , and Carnegie Mellon University, where he went to obtain his Ph.D. Pausch was most known for his book, The Last Lecture. This book is based on a lecture he spoke on called, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” which happened to also be his very last lecture. In September of 2006, Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in August of 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis of “ 3 to 6 months of good health ” (Pausch 62). In The Last Lecture, Pausch makes a distinction between “people” and things” through lessons like pouring soda in

In a life course approach view, Randy Pausch came to terms with his terminal illness and impending death both individually and by his family (Carlander, 2011 in Kail & Kavanaugh, 2013). The significant part of an individual’s final scenario is the separation processes from family (Corr et al., 2008; Wanzer & Glenmullen, 2007 in Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013. Interestingly, Pausch uses a commitment story of narrative that is kept in check by a systematic sequence of his life events with a focus on achievement of childhood goals and dreams. In fact, he gives to others as a means of giving back to family, community, and society (McAdams, 2006 in Berk, 2015, p. 534). Pausch’s life narrative offers his vision into how individuals may infuse

Good advice… What is good advice? Good advice is something that sticks with you to the end, guiding you on your way and letting you know that there is always light in full darkness. Live life to your fullest. It can guide you to riches and wealth, or even make you famous. A person who makes this very clear is, Randy Pausch. Randy Pausch is an inspirational speaker who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and only had months to live. Instead of balling his eyes out and grieving, he accepted the fact that he was going to die and gave a speech. This speech was not about death, but about life. This was called the Last Lecture.

In the presentation Randy Pausch giving his "Last Lecture" tell people that he pancreatic cancer really shows how he accepted the fact that he was going to die and pushed through everything. What was a good piece of advice? Stop complaining and start living.

Andy Pausch’s work was excellent in that he strove for his best even if there was something that tried to stand in his way. He found out about an opportunity to achieve one of his childhood dreams of being in zero gravity and but soon found out that he was not able to. He overcame this hindrance by becoming a web journalist since the students were allowed to take a journalist from their hometown to fly. One of his other childhood dreams was to become a Walt Disney Imagineer, but when he in his letters of application he was denied. An opportunity arose where he was asked to brief the Secretary of Defense on the state of virtual reality and he called up the Imagineers to find out about their program. He was offered a 6-month contract where

The Last Lecture began as a good-bye speech, made by Randy Pausch, a 47 year old professor diagnosed with terminal cancer. His speech at Carnegie Melon University became an Internet phenomenon. It has also been published as a book. I really thoroughly enjoyed his Last Lecture speech. He had a lot of good talking points and brought up some new perspectives, or ways of looking at life situations that got me thinking. He talked a lot about his dreams when he was a child and was very humorous and inspirational throughout his speech. He also had a lot of quotes that I really enjoyed and they are what I want to focus on.

In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch teaches his recipe for a happy and successful life. His main ingredient to this is working toward and achieving your childhood dreams. Pausch gives several examples of wisdom he has used to guide his life throughout the book. All of the advice he gives comes from the experiences he has had while working toward his various childhood dreams.