The Last Lecture Carnegie Mellon University often had professors give a “Last Lecture,” a speech where they have to consider their death and then talk about what matters most to them. When Pausch was asked to give his speech, he had already been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which is a malignant tumor of the pancreas. He decided to name his lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” He delivered his speech on September 18, 2007on the campus of CMU with an audience of over 400. The difference in Randy’s “final talk” and the other professor’s who had preceded him was that his speech wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming and finding a way around the “brick walls,” of making possible the dreams of others, of taking advantage of every minute of every day. It was about living life to the fullest and giving it all you could give with no regrets. In the third, fourth and fifth chapters of the book, he talks about adventures and lessons learned, enabling the dreams of others and about how to live your life. Randy sums these chapters up by saying, “This section may be called “It’s About How to Live Your Life,” but it’s really about how I’ve tried to live mine. I guess it’s my way of saying: Here’s what worked for me.” In the final chapter, “Final Remarks,” Randy talks about the dreams he has for his children. He is very exact in what he wants and says, “I want them to find their own path to fulfillment. And given that I won’t be there, I want to make this clear: Kids, don’t try to figure out what I wanted you to become. I want you to become what you want to become.” He talks about his wife, Jai, and the struggles that she has had to deal with knowing that her husband was dying and trying to take care of him and the family and preparing for her life without Randy. It goes on to talk about how hard they had worked at there marriage, how they have been strong through all the trying times and it tells of a woman who is the most courageous....