Last Lecture Leads to 'Perfect Storm'

By: Dave Astor Covering a professor's "last lecture" brought columnist Jeff Zaslow part of a reported $6.7-million book advance. But the Wall Street Journal writer almost didn't attend Dr. Randy Pausch's September talk at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Michigan-based Zaslow tells E&P he hesitated to drive five hours to Pittsburgh because his daughter might have needed a more local ride. "My wife said, 'You can't go,'" recalls Zaslow, a Carnegie Mellon alum married to a TV anchor. "My editors said I could do a phoner. But I was drawn to the lecture."

So Zaslow, whose "Moving On" Journal column covers "life transitions," hit the road to hear a man going through the ultimate transition. Pausch ? a popular computer-science professor dying of pancreatic cancer ? talked seriously, humorously, and engagingly about his accomplishments and setbacks. In his column, Zaslow said Pausch's lecture was "a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life."

The online version quickly zoomed around the world, along with a Zaslow-narrated Journal video with excerpts from the lecture. "It was the perfect storm," he says. "Fifteen years ago, a column would have come and gone. Including a video is an example of the way newspapers can remain vital." The column and video were featured on thousands of blogs, TV shows clamored for Pausch to appear, and publishers began bidding for a book. Hyperion won ? clearly hoping for Tuesdays With Morrie-like sales.

Zaslow says the book starts and ends with the lecture, offers information about Pausch's life, and includes other content. "We've been talking daily," says Zaslow. "The book is all his words and his thoughts, though not in the first person. I'm trying to craft it. He's got a lot on his plate."

The columnist has also interviewed many others, and is working frantically to meet a Jan. 15 deadline. A major reason for the tight deadline is to get the book out (in April) while Pausch ? a 47-year-old father of three young kids ? is hopefully still alive. Given Pausch's health, Zaslow says doing the book is "bittersweet."

Zaslow, 49, took a leave of absence to do the book (he plans to return to the Journal) and also temporarily put aside a different one he was writing. That work ? The Girls From Ames, about a group of Iowa women in their 40s ? was also inspired by a Zaslow column.

When asked what he'll do with his share of Pausch's book advance, Zaslow replies: "It won't change my life, but I know it will remind me to be more charitable."

This isn't the first time covering something had a huge impact on his life. When Ann Landers left the Chicago Sun-Times for the Chicago Tribune in 1987, Zaslow was a Journal staffer who wrote about the contest to replace her. He even entered the contest, and co-won it over 12,000 other entrants. Zaslow remained a Sun-Times columnist until 2001, and rejoined the Journal staff a year later.