'Last Lecture' co-author Zaslow inspires Davis County

Hearts were touched last Thursday as Davis County welcomed writer Jeffrey Zaslow to the Northridge High School Auditorium. Zaslow, who works as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, was co-writer for the book "The Last Lecture." "The Last Lecture" is based upon the thoughts and feelings of Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor Randy Pausch. At Carnegie Mellon, there is a tradition where professors are asked to give their "last lecture," or the lecture they would give if they knew it was to be their last. For Pausch, it was the truth of the situation. He knew he was dying of cancer at the time he was asked to give the lecture in 2007. Pausch died in July of 2008. Adrian Gillespie, coordinator for the Center for Diversity and Unity at Weber State University, attended the event. "Every time I read any of the chapters it's very emotional for me," Gillespie said. "It makes me think of my mortality, my parents' mortality, and he really had a great gift in knowing that he had a certain amount of time left." The book is inspiring to many people, and many people feel it would be beneficial for anyone to read. Co-author Zaslow said he was accustomed to writing about emotional situations. "I write about life transitions," Zaslow said. He started his lecture by sharing stories of some of the columns he had written. "I write about people when they are born, when they have their first child, when they get their first job," he said. Zaslow said that he looks for life transitions wherever he goes, sharing a story of seeing an 80-year-old woman driving a police car while at a stoplight with his children. "I like to write about love, especially puppy love," Zaslow said."I like writing about the aging process. Life transitions happen everywhere." Even for someone who sees amazing changes in people's lives, what Randy Pausch chose to do with his remaining life was incredible. "It was unlike anything I've ever seen," Zazlow said. "He was the liveliest person in the room that day." The lecture by Zaslow included several video clips from Pausch's actual that no one should pity him because he was in better shape than anyone in the room. Pausch then proceeded to do push-ups in front of the audience. "The last lecture is a book of advice," Zaslow said. "More specifically it's a book of the advice that Randy wanted to give his children." The book written by Pausch and Zaslow was an international best seller, and the videos of the lecture have been viewed millions of times on the Internet. The book was written over a series of phone calls between Pausch and Zaslow. Most of the phone calls happened while Pausch was riding his bicycle, so he didn't take any time away from his children and his family. "Randy's doctor said that he needed to get exercise, so he would ride his bicycle around his neighborhood for an hour a day," Zaslow said. "He got a headset for his cell phone and I would sit typing while we talked over the phone." The book was written after the lecture at Carnegie Mellon and is full of not only the advice shared at the lecture, but also great events that happened during the time spent writing the book. "One time we were on the phone and Randy's wife, Jai, sent him out for groceries and he went to the self-checkout aisle," Zaslow said. "He said, 'Damn, I just got charged twice for my groceries,' so I asked him what he was going to do. He said that he could go find a manager, but that would take 15 minutes. 'I'm dying,' Pausch thought, 'I'd rather have 15 minutes than $16,' and he left." The Davis Reads program run by the Davis County School District sponsored the lecture. In attendance was the Assistant Director of the Davis Education Foundation Board of Trustees, Brent Severe. "We were amongst the first to request him for an appearance," Severe said. "We actually contacted him right after the book was published. We read the book and knew that it would be something that our community would enjoy so we booked him." Many residents have let Zaslow know how the book has changed their lives. "I think that there's a message for everyone in it," Gillespie said. "No two people will necessarily get the same message at the same time. Every time you go back to it you will realize something new, something that pertains to your life at that time."