The Last Lecture

內容簡介

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? 

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. 

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

《最后的演讲》是以美国一位名叫兰迪·鲍许的教授为蓝本而写成的，兰迪·鲍许是一位热情、风趣且教学认真的大学教授，在46岁时被诊断出罹患致死率最高的癌症——胰腺癌。2007年8月，医生说他的癌症已经转移，可能只剩下3-6个月生命。9月，兰迪教授应学校之邀发表了一场演讲，这场演讲让现场所有人笑声不断，也让不少人流下泪来。据美国《纽约时报》报道，至少已有一千万人上网观赏这场演讲的内容。由于这场幽默、充满启发性及智慧的演讲广获回响，之后，《华尔街日报》专栏作家杰夫利·里斯洛探访了兰迪教授53次，写成了这本精彩丰富又让人动容的——《最后的演讲》。兰迪教授所传达的讯息之所以如此震撼人心，是因为他以诚恳、幽默的态度去分享他独特的经验。他谈的不是死亡，而是人生中的重要议题，包括克服障碍、实现儿时梦想、帮助别人实现梦想、把握每一个时刻……