57 pages • 1 hour read
Jeffrey Zaslow, Randy PauschA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Section 1, Chapters 1-3
Section 2, Chapters 4-5
Section 2, Chapters 6-7
Section 2, Chapters 8-11
Section 3, Chapters 12-15
Section 3, Chapters 16-19
Section 3, Chapters 20-22
Section 4, Chapters 23-24
Section 4, Chapters 25-27
Section 5, Chapters 28-31
Section 5, Chapters 32-34
Section 5, Chapters 35-37
Section 5, Chapters 38-40
Section 5, Chapters 41-45
Section 5, Chapters 46-50
Section 5, Chapters 51-55
Section 5, Chapters 56-58
Section 6, Chapters 59-61
Key Figures
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pausch outlines how he pursued his dreams. He exhorts the reader, “It’s important to have specific dreams” (31). Pausch had a childhood dream of “floating,” not necessarily of being an astronaut. When he was a faculty advisor, NASA organized a contest for college students to experience zero gravity. Pausch’s group applied and won, but as a faculty advisor he was unable to fly with them. So he researched loopholes and changed his status to journalist, so he could experience floating with them. The lesson here is that “if you can find an opening, you can probably find a way to float through it” (34).
In Chapter 7 Pausch reminisces about his “romance with football” (35). Though he never achieved his dream of making it to the NFL, he reflects, “I sometimes think I got more from pursuing that dream, and not accomplishing it, than I did from many of the ones I did accomplish” (35). He learned a lot from football—especially from his old school coach, Jim Graham—and applied those lessons to his teaching. Most people may not appreciate having an especially demanding coach, but Pausch learned to value Coach Graham’s toughness. The assistant coach put Graham’s