On September 18, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'. With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He rejected all pity, especially self-pity. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.          In THE LAST LECTURE Randy will use his instantly beloved talk, and his life in that context, to share in more detail than the lecture could allow how he came to each of the applicable lessons he is working so hard to leave for his young children, to help them make their way in the world.          THE LAST LECTURE will inspire readers for years to come to choose to live each day of their lives with purpose and joy. His book will allow readers to commune with Randy's words and experience. It will be a permanent reminder of this rare thing he has done for his kids and his wife, and in the process, all the rest of us.