The Last Lecture

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The Last Lecture Introduction I HAVE AN engineering problem. While for the most part I’m in terrific physical shape, I have ten tumors in my liver and I have only a few months left to live. I am a father of three young children, and married to the woman of my dreams. While I could easily feel sorry for myself, that wouldn’t do them, or me, any good. These lectures are routinely videotaped. I knew what I was doing that day. Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I [6] So, how to spend my very limited time? The obvious part is being with, and taking care of, my family. While I still can, I embrace every moment with them, and do the logistical things necessary to ease their path into a life without me. The less obvious part is how to teach my children what I would have taught them over the next twenty years. They are too young now to have those conversations. All parents want to teach their children right from wrong, what we think is important, and how to deal with the challenges life will bring. We also want them to know some stories from our own lives, often as a way to teach them how to lead theirs. My desire to do that led me to give a “last lecture” at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Last Lecture lectured. I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear. And I tried very hard not to be boring. This book is a way for me to continue what I began on stage. Because time is precious, and I want to spend all that I can with my kids, I asked Jeffrey Zaslow for help. Each day, I ride my bike around my neighborhood, getting exercise crucial for my health. On fifty-three long bike rides, I spoke to Jeff on my cell-phone headset. He then spent countless hours helping to turn my stories—I suppose we could call them fifty-three “lectures”—into the book that follows. We knew right from the start: None of this is a replacement for a living parent. But engineering isn’t about perfect solutions; it’s about doing the best you can with limited resources. Both the lecture and this book are my attempts to do exactly that. [7]
Page 2 and 3: The Last Lecture The Last Lecture R
Page 4 and 5: The Last Lecture Contents Introduct
Page 8 and 9: The Last Lecture I THELASTLECTURE [
Page 10 and 11: The Last Lecture 1 An Injured Lion
Page 12 and 13: The Last Lecture Logan, Chloe, Jai,
Page 14 and 15: The Last Lecture Dr. Reiss listened
Page 16 and 17: The Last Lecture And so, with Jai
Page 18 and 19: The Last Lecture 2 My Life in a Lap
Page 20 and 21: The Last Lecture When the waitress
Page 22 and 23: The Last Lecture 3 The Elephant in
Page 24 and 25: The Last Lecture approximately ten
Page 26 and 27: The Last Lecture II REALLYACHIEVIN
Page 28 and 29: The Last Lecture 4 The Parent Lotte
Page 30 and 31: The Last Lecture soaked up his tech
Page 32 and 33: The Last Lecture Many people who sa
Page 34 and 35: The Last Lecture 5 The Elevator in
Page 36 and 37: The Last Lecture Given my limited a
Page 38 and 39: The Last Lecture 6 Getting to Zero
Page 40 and 41: The Last Lecture I called an offici
Page 42 and 43: The Last Lecture 7 I Never Made It
Page 44 and 45: The Last Lecture That lesson has st
Page 46 and 47: The Last Lecture What we really wan
Page 48 and 49: The Last Lecture annual companion v
Page 50 and 51: The Last Lecture 9 A Skill Set Call
Page 52 and 53: The Last Lecture doors,” he said.
Page 54 and 55: The Last Lecture 10 Winning Big O N
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The Last Lecture Have you ever walk
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The Last Lecture The giant stuffed
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The Last Lecture Virginia, and I’
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The Last Lecture Because I was gett
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The Last Lecture III ADVENTURES…A
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The Last Lecture 12 The Park Is Ope
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The Last Lecture will be in to see
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The Last Lecture moment. I felt inc
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The Last Lecture 13 The Man in the
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The Last Lecture 14 The Dutch Uncle
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The Last Lecture Looking back, his
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The Last Lecture open, eyes widenin
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The Last Lecture 16 Romancing the B
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The Last Lecture She was told I was
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The Last Lecture In April, I made
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The Last Lecture 17 Not All Fairy T
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The Last Lecture on their wedding d
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The Last Lecture 18 Lucy, I’m Hom
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The Last Lecture 19 A New Year’s
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The Last Lecture took me aside. “
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The Last Lecture In that moment, I
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The Last Lecture On April 11, 1945,
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The Last Lecture 21 Jai I ’VE ASK
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The Last Lecture night. “He just
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The Last Lecture Jai has gotten to
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The Last Lecture He was obviously t
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The Last Lecture IV ENABLINGTHE DRE
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The Last Lecture 23 I’m on My Hon
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The Last Lecture Develop a good fil
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The Last Lecture “Hi, this is Ran
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The Last Lecture important to use t
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The Last Lecture My hope was that m
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The Last Lecture 25 Training a Jedi
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The Last Lecture Tommy turned out t
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The Last Lecture here if not for Ra
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The Last Lecture These were student
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The Last Lecture On presentation da
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The Last Lecture 27 The Promised La
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The Last Lecture Caitlin Kelleher N
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The Last Lecture V IT’SABOUTHOWTO
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The Last Lecture 28 Dream Big M EN
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The Last Lecture 29 Earnest Is Bett
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The Last Lecture 30 Raising the Whi
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The Last Lecture 31 Let’s Make a
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The Last Lecture 32 Don’t Complai
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The Last Lecture Complaining does n
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The Last Lecture This was something
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The Last Lecture 35 Start By Sittin
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The Last Lecture As I called off ea
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The Last Lecture 37 Watch What They
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The Last Lecture major ones. I love
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The Last Lecture The title of the a
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The Last Lecture get upset. They be
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The Last Lecture portfolio were goo
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The Last Lecture my lab. If we kick
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The Last Lecture 43 The Friday Nigh
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The Last Lecture One of my greatest
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The Last Lecture 46 All You Have Is
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The Last Lecture Factor.” If I do
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The Last Lecture medicine in the wo
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The Last Lecture 49 Get in Touch wi
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The Last Lecture 50 The $100,000 Sa
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The Last Lecture and me feel so goo
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The Last Lecture When I was fifteen
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The Last Lecture focused on poring
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The Last Lecture The Carnegie Mello
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The Last Lecture life. It’s inter
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The Last Lecture So I wanted my stu
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The Last Lecture I’ve always been
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The Last Lecture 56 Make a Decision
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The Last Lecture best friends: my h
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The Last Lecture 57 A Way to Unders
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The Last Lecture 58 The Input of Ot
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The Last Lecture appropriate thing
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The Last Lecture with which we touc
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The Last Lecture VI FINALREMARKS [2
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The Last Lecture 59 Dreams for My C
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The Last Lecture Logan, the ultimat
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The Last Lecture that you may not a
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The Last Lecture I have a direct an
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The Last Lecture Realizing some mig
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The Last Lecture Jai and I work har
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The Last Lecture 61 The Dreams Will
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The Last Lecture fake?” I took a
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The Last Lecture anyone he knew in
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The Last Lecture either. Carnegie M
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The Last Lecture AbouttheAuthors R
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The Last Lecture

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