我們改變不了上天發給我們的牌，只能決定怎麼打這手牌。──蘭迪‧鮑許
蘭迪‧鮑許是一位熱情、風趣且教學認真的大學教授，在46歲時被診斷出罹患致死率最高的癌症──胰臟癌。隔年8月（2007年），醫生說他的癌症已經轉移，可能只剩下三到六個月生命。9月，蘭迪教授應學校之邀發表了一場演說，這場演說讓現場400個人笑聲不斷，也讓不少人流下淚來，後來網路大量流傳，在全球各地引發了熱烈的討論。
這場充滿幽默、啟發性及智慧的演講廣獲迴響，之後華爾街日報專欄作家傑弗利採訪了蘭迪教授53次，寫成了這本精采豐富又讓人動容的──《最後的演講》。蘭迪教授所傳達的訊息之所以如此撼動人心，是因為他以誠懇、幽默的態度去分享他獨特的經驗。他談的不是死亡，而是人生中的重要議題，包括克服障礙、實現兒時夢想、幫助別人實現夢想、把握每一個時刻……
本書不僅是獻給天下所有的學生、教師、父母以及擁有夢想的人，其實也是蘭迪教授打算在未來20年要教給三個年幼孩子的事情。
★本書出版後立刻登上Amazon、Barnes & Noble書店及紐約時報暢銷排行榜No. 1。
★上市48小時首刷40萬冊售罄，50天內銷售衝破200萬冊！各界預言受歡迎程度將刷新《最後14堂星期二的課》在紐約時報暢銷榜 205週的紀錄。
★演講影片全球下載超過1000萬次，是美國ABC News網站上最受觀迎的影片，歐普拉網站超過200萬人次瀏覽。
★《紐約時報》《華爾街日報》《商業週刊》、ABC、歐普拉……爭相報導！
★新一代《星際奇航》電影版的導演J. J. Abrams在看了「最後的演講」片段後，寫信邀請蘭迪客串一角，以完成蘭迪心願。蘭迪為此仍幽默的說：「看電影時記得別眨眼，要不然你們會錯過我喔。」
★蘭迪完成他「最後的演講」之後，卡內基美隆大學校長Jerry Cohen隨即宣布將連結這兩棟建築的天橋命名為蘭迪‧鮑許紀念橋。
★為紀念蘭迪在教育、資訊科學、數位娛樂，以及鼓勵女性參與科學事業的貢獻，美商藝電於2007年成立蘭迪‧鮑許紀念獎學金，每年頒發給一位卡內基美隆大學部女生。
★迪士尼旗下的Hyperion出版社為此書預付了高達670萬美金的總統級版稅。
本書中文版《最後的演講》，由「方智」出版。
”We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
-Randy Pausch
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?nd 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.