While most of us are blessed by good fortune to live long and healthy lives, some among us are confronted by extraordinary and existential medical conditions that cannot be overcome. Even as far as we have advanced our understanding of human medicine, the natures of these challenges remain terminal, pipers that must at some point be paid. But until that day, when the will can no longer stave off death, the afflicted have a decision to make. How will they occupy themselves in their final days, weeks, and months? Will they live as they always have? Will they hold out hope for a miracle? Will they plunder their savings for a final, unforgettable experience that frugality has here-to-for denied them? All the available avenues have merit, but there can be little doubt that the road Mr. Pausch has chosen is the most remarkable.
The Last Lecture, published mere months before Mr. Pausch's death in July of 2008, expands upon a singular, hour-long presentation he gave to a collection of students, faculty and friends at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007. Having been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, and having failed to win full remission from the condition, doctors informed Mr. Pausch, a professor of computer science at CMU, that he had only weeks to live. Over the understandable objections of his wife who strongly encouraged him to spend as much of his remaining life with her and his three young children, Mr. Pausch, a lifelong dreamer and work'a'holic, devoted himself to the crafting of one final lecture that would, in conveying the myriad lessons he learned from life, act as his legacy, to the world and to his children. On September 18, 2007, he delivered this final performance to an audience of hundreds. It has since been viewed millions of times, inspiring the writing of this book which distills, in point form, the ideas that comprised this most famous lecture.
By any measure, The Last Lecture is a thundering success. Narratively driven by Mr. Pausch's thoughts and feelings in the wake of his diagnoses and failed treatments, it thoroughly details the admirable character of a man determined to have succeeded at everything he tried. Though it would have been easy for Mr. Pausch to descend into self-referential backslapping, the author largely avoids this trap by freely crediting others, from his parents, to his football coach, to his doctoral advisor, to his wife, for making it possible for him to have had a wonderful life. Yes, Mr. Pausch is, at times, arrogant -- someone who decides to make theatre out of his final lecture cannot be else --, but, for the reader, the bitter flavor of his self-importance is amply softened by the sweetness of his humility and humor which, together, prevent this memoir from sliding into the kind of grandiosity that so often characterizes such works.
Ironically, to an extent, the work's events are overshadowed by the powerful, philosophical question it poses to its readers. If told that you had only a brief time left to live, what would you do with your final days? Would you spend that precious time with your family? What would you say to your friends and acquaintances? Would you continue to go to work? There is no single, proper response to this existential scenario and in this lies its power. Regardless of the ambiguity of the proper answer, let there be no doubt that Mr. Pausch has chosen well and with honor.
Notwithstanding its moments of self-absorption, this is exceptional and emotional work that flies well above the ocean of cliches that so often dominate the self-help genre. (4/5 Stars)
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