magic!

NEXT!!! and prly my final review, for the summer ne how :-)

Live Life To Its Fullest.

THE LAST LECTURE

RANDY PAUSCH with JEFFERY ZASLOW

ISBN-13: 978-1401323257

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

#1 in	Books > Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology
#1 in	Books > Entertainment > Humor > Computers & Internet
#2 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists

"live life to its fullest"

This Memoir novel by Randy Pausch with Jeffery Zaslow was one I was sure I would not enjoy; however, it was a quick read and was enlightening.

Also, yeah the title is cliche' BUT Randy Pausch was an advocate of chiche's and believe that students should utilize them (too bad he cannot tell that to my professors!)

Let me start off by saying that Randy had cancer and was already dying when he wrote this novel, he did not change his life whatsoever when he found out the “bad” news. With that said, (the fact that he was near death) makes people sympathetic and can give inspiration to many - on the flip side though, it is just a story of another man who has been lucky his whole life. Reading through his story I realized that he got everything he has always wanted, he talked about his childhood dreams and well, he somehow fulfilled them all. He was placed on the waiting list to brown, and got in, he was rejected from Carnegie Mellon and had connections to get his application reevaluated and then he was accepted; allowing him to become a professor that specialized in Virtual Reality. He worked at Disney and make other places once he received tenure and went on sabbaticals.

Many people can look up to him and hope for just the same luck, although most people aren’t so lucky. The novel is called the Last Lecture because he was asked to give a lecture which would, ironically, be his last major lecture. He did it to be remembered, so his kids can watch it back, so he can pretty much leave the world doing something he enjoyed, or in his words “an injured lion wants to know if he can still roar.” The video is actually on YouTube and I would like to watch it one day, but being over an hour long, I am not too sure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo). All jealously aside though, Randy was a well accomplished man that had everything going for him, he was just sadly diagnosed with a terminal disease.

One major thing I would applaud him for is being so strong and not complaining about his death. Instead, his wife, Jai, and himself moved their family closer to hers so that Jai would have help. He had such a strong nature about himself, and to be able to say that about someone from just their writing is powerful.

There are many quotes throughout his Memoir that I took the liberty to write down and remember. If I could have the same mentality he did, I know I’d be a better person. There are many things that he lists that I would encourage readers to remember, take note, and to apply to their lives. For instance he talked about the quote, “We just have to decide how we’ll respond. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we place the hand,” and that is pretty much how he lived his life. Other things that Pausch stressed were that people are more important than things, complaining does not work (especially if we applied ourselves to fix things rather then complain we’d save time [and of course, we may all know that but what do we do about it?]). Lastly, I would like to stress his quote, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted,” which kind of explains many summer jobs for students. It made me think of myself, and my volunteering internship this summer, yeah its not what I want to do in the future, but its experience and may help me land something one day. Karma. Maybe I will be lucky Like Mr. Pausch…

Despite his way with words, Randy was a professor at the University of Virginia, and what I would like to point out is that he received tenure a year earlier then most and that his school has an honor code which he appreciated and valued, something my school also values.

All in all, Randy Pausch was a lucky individual…however he had a Cancer. Ergo, I do not know how to take it all…it is a wake up call to live life to its fullest. Never give up. Chase after the one you Love. Death does not equate the end of our lives, just another step, we might not all have that mentality, but we have to be happy. That may be the theme of it all, be delighted. You're not living until your on cloud 9.