The little engine that can .... has to

The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch

when Dr. Randy Pausch took the podium to deliver the now famous "last lecture", the most critical moment had long passed.

he had been told by his doctor that cancer had returned and that he had but months to live.  he had since moved his family to be closer to where his wife's parents live and made other necessary arrangements. every activity was heart-wrenching but also rational, consistent with what one would have to do, given the life and death situation.  only one odd issue lingered: he was scheduled to deliver a "last lecture", an academic tradition for accomplished professors to do a moment of reflection and share their deeper thoughts with students. for Dr. Rausch, suddenly, this became sad, ironic and problematic. what could he possibly talk about? could he handle the physical and emotional stress? and was it even important enough to take precious time away from his loved ones to prepare for a ....lecture?

to do or not to do - that is the question.

with the dying certainty and his wife's disapproval on one hand and little or no prospect a lecture would provide on the other, Randy Pausch just had to do this one last show!

that decision made and the rest is history:



for me, this is the most valuable part the book has to offer. one has to follow his own heart, even in the face of death.