it doesn't mean it's true, but they come away with a savior who was a hippy who got cruise fied who gave a sermon on the mount and other wonderfully benign and specific messages. there's no sermon on the mount here. ..age of the carotid is that the infidel is fit only for the fires of hell and there's nothing better that can happen to a person of life is to die in the one true faith. and mohammed didn't get crucified. hamas was the alexander the great of the muslim world. he was a conquering general. and these are differences that matter. and the great challenge of our time is to figure out how to inspire a renaissance in the muslim world. aga, e c

>> we are talking about abt intellectual -- the arab world especially is isolated in a way that very few people can appreciate intellectually.te the country of spain translatesn more of the world's literaturefe and learning in spanish everyinh year than the entire arab world has translated into arabic since the ninth century. now, the arab world is only 25% of the muslim world, but itrld,t controls a majority of the mosques. the arab world is the engine ofn the world's few that is is long. and the proper attitude withtt w tich one should live one's life on the basis of this doctrine is in perpetual subjugation to thio invisible deity who gave us thii perfect book. this is a photo of muslims in kashmir worshiping at a shrine that is believed to contain ane single beer here from the prophet mohammad.

now, i do not mean to make ligha of how difficult it might be from muslims in kashmir at thish moment. undoubtedly it is difficult.nt,u i don't mean to denigrate the kinds of positive experiences you can have.acticingn this i think the version is a positive mental state and having a strong community is positive v .e it seems to me that given all om the challenges that these people face in this world and theworld prospects of real collaborationl that a society can discovereds c these people have something morp important to do with their timeh than worship the beard hair of a person who may very well have been a schizophrenic.. and another message that comes out of out of the doctrine which is truly an avoidable, there you uo can dance around the fax, theats

status of women is secondary. the ultimate expression of thati i think, at this moment is life for women fully failed. bu at think it is a great failure a of liberalism. i consider myself a liberal on basically all questions. it is a it is a great failure of liberalism that we hearailure o sanctimonious appeals throughpeo religious sensitivity that havee somehow wronged or criticized the practice when there is no sensitivity for what life ise ii actually like for women forced f to live this way.this wa our sensitivity is misplaced if we are worried about offending the man who want their wives to live thiors way. we should be concerned about th women. te and, yet, even feminists in our yociety take issue with any strong condemnation of this practice.

another result of this worldanol view is -- it has become an engine of a kind of difficult in our time.our it is especially noticeable given to given technology and our coalition with the muslim worldi it has existed since the time oe the profits. but the endless suicide bombings that wend see are an expressionf the t a theological expectation. this is what certainty oft certa paradise getsin you. so this photo is the aftermath of the bombing of shia muslims in pakistan.in they consider shiites and apo regularly bomb their mosques and funeral processions. pilmag notice this has nothing to do. g with u.s. foreign policy.thmusl this is muslim-on-muslim

violence. thly d the only difference between these people is a religious.ous it has nothing to do with israel this is suny waking up in thethu morning deciding that it is wodying worth dying for the privilege oo blowingf up shia apostolates. i want to linger over theset eetails. th i fear it is difficult for ve secularyr people to connect with just how deeply these beliefs are held. this is a -- they bombed a-- procession of syria, but thenthe they sent of a suicide bomber t bomb thes hospital when the ambulances came in with then casualties. this photograph is outside the hospital with the doctors and a nurses and casualties.just just imagined. this is creativity, a smart ides

on the suicide bombers part.p if someone had to volunteer for this. you just look at the aftermath. you look at this girl over the body of her mother. h it seems to me that it isther obvious that this is smallpox for the mind.the there is nothing good about thig . it is not -- the crucial point u want to make is it is not unscientific to say this.his. the fear that there is something unscientific about saying thistg is tantamount to our saying tha we know absolutely nothing about human well-being. it is identical to saying, we have 150 years of brain sciencee and psychology and sociology be behind us. we have made real gains in the treatment of women. wom maybe blowing up shiaso but m processions and mothers and doctors, maybe that is as it asm

anything we have come up with. okay. well, i have too many. for a moment it lets you getssld the seesnse that i am merely a focused on the problem of thef slump. i want to say that the betwonnection between religion and the real details of humann d and animal well-being is obvioun in many other things. for instance, the catholicr way. church simply is more concerned atout stoppingt contraception an this moment and stopping thean rate of children. that is a fact based on thea level of its stock in and actions in the world. it's more concerned about came marriage in genocide. this is a diabolical in version of priorities. dbo anat i would suggest to you ise. thatd the moment you link questions of morality tolink

questions of human and animal ml well-being ec that they use of the terminology, talking about the morality, the moral problem of contraception is false. fals the church to talk about thechu physics of thehe transubstantiation or the alysics that allows the holy cot ghost to be here and there and at all everywhere. no physicist would have to take that this course seriously. that is a misuse of the wordat'e physics. we define our terms in physics very much to the detriment of os anyone who would want to talkdef about the physics of thek eucharist.ist. we can do this on the subject ot morality as well. and so finally i would say to you, the only prospect of pos building a global civilizationbo where we converge on the same kind of in this -- answers to he the most important questions,nan the same kinds of environmental and economic and political goals

is for us to come up with thewih framework in which we can talkik about values and right and wronl and good and evil in universalel terms. i think an honest discussion about the prospects of human ann animal well-being is that framework. thank you very much.thank yove [applauding] [applauding] >> we have a few minutes fore ht questions. we have a few minutes for questions and there is ainus f microphoneor right here. if you have a question if youquf would come up to the microphone. >> tell us what your opinion is of francs -- france.>> wer

>> the question is as a about b the wisdom of france banning. you know, i am not sure. i'm not sure. hy bias is that passing laws oft that sort is the wrong move.g at think people should be freeed to wear whatever they want.tevet the reason why i am not entirely irre is that clearly there arele women and grows being forced to avail themselves it is hard toah see how you provide a context in which they can be free to at make the kinds of choices they law.without passing a there is a law passed in austrib that makes it illegal to denygad the holocaust. thatink that is an idiotic law. the lever you want to move is pi not one banning badc ideas.

we don't need laws banning badi. ideas. it may be alone more difficult. >> i was wondering how you t. differentiate your idea of a moral landscape fromscaperom utilitarianism. getting the most good for the most people. >> right. >> and then how you might defene the moral landscape against the criticisms. >> good question. i think that the traditionaltrar presentation of utilitarianism has been understandably prey to a certain criticisms.d atcer when you present at kind of ou narrow focus on pleasure or happiness people are led tos, believe, well, if it's all just about pleasure why not take care day.all that is really pleasurable. clearly that does not meet the test for anyone.

i think a fully searching notioa of utility is actually notity ia tolerable to those kinds ofablei criticisms. cr i think the categories of. utilitarianism verses at dicks and a lot of the debates that eh happen and philosophy haveilot broken down on false distinctions and arguments that just don't have to ben't have continually rehearsed. re i am a consequential list innseq some sense, buuet i don'tnt thik this -- i don't think my i argument is vulnerable to the traditional claims against the a utilitarianism.tilitarianis as i go into it in some degree in the book, but ice try to sidestep a lot of it. a lot of it is, frankly, i think and necessary.and yo get you also get, for instance, ifr it is all just about maximizingi will be in, then what if your

doctor was aware that he could -- he's got some genius in the ' back room who is going to dock t great work but he needs a newwot kidney and liver and lungs. ki so your doctor just decides to go into the waiting room.ck your organs could be better used organs c .ou the welbeing i narrowly focus on the well-being of society seems to think that might be an ethicalet thing to do.hical wau would want to live in awho society where at any moment your organs to be stolen because some very bright person needs them. very obvious reasons not to do v that.asons not do soen you have a sufficiently broad conception of well-being and the kinds of principles th maximizes i think many of the things that critics of ting utilitarianism pier are nsotfeae captured.

notions of justice and fairness jus and having a clear consciencear and all of that. the cash value of all that is well-being at the end of the day we-being i don't know if that deals with this completely. bu >> hello. what you said today that stoodd out the most for me wasy hat something about even people who have strong faith in an afterlife, i forgot what it wasw t t there are still objectivefau facts. well-being to be found. >> right. if it exists, yes. >> right.h. and i see the utility of that i making your case. t is so justified that it wouls even apply to an imaginary place

in your last book one of theok f most popular "from it was thata certain the in the next life. seemingly the plausibility of people who have such stronge wh faith of being able to bee of b tolerant. so if it weren't making thatg case that even for those with this faith in the afterlife -- >> well, certainty is dangerous. there are no good reasons to be danger certain. anyone who is pretending to be certain about the afterlife isyt lying to himself or herself. afi it is just not -- given that we have incompatible certainties ce the religion's actually teach different things.

it varies in some non negotiable weight. these have shattered our world. hundreds of examples of this. a very clear one is that ifbuta you're really going to believe i christian you have to believene. that jesus was divine. it says in two places and the pe curve on that if you think jesus was divine you're going to spend eternity in hell. this is a coin toss. toss >> for a huge portion of the population. i think there is probably an ven broader or a lot larger portion of the population for whom the real deal breaker is this sense, this universal sense of hope in something waiting for us after a life of struggling a

and suffering.suffer >> right. it is easy to see how that helpt people in certain situations. i it obviously -- if you can believe that there are certain occasions where it clearly certi relieved to suffering. suffe there is no question. atheists want to deny thats want sometimes. it's undeniable. your child's eyes, and if youen. really believe that she has bees taken out to be with jesus and in a few short years you're going to be reunited, that solves the problem. pob there isl no -- i don't think -- >> so wonderful. >> right. but that comes at a tremendous cost, that kind of -- the anyne ef anodyne effect.ith and the costs are -- i mean, the

costs are so large on a large as geopolitical level. the collision betweenliticaleveh incompatiblee faiths. and there are just obvious opportunities that are forsaken in light of that belief. we are -- the thing that we cane be assured of, absolutely assured of is that we are in a circumstance now that can get ae whole lot better or a whole lot whole worse. l what we need is truly s tr intelligent, open-ended, non dogmatic, nonsectarianome conversations about how to do that. religion nine times out of ten is a glaring obstacle, even when it is providing comfort to to people in certain situations. >> i am glad about what he saidt today.saidtod and that would send the book. >> thank you. >> i just wanted to -- first,

morality was in eight.y you say basically that your perspective is education through science, except for a, allows you to have a certain morality?d if that is the case are you very pessimistic as far as you wouldd say? i assuming your saying educatiot , colleges. yes. to your knowledge and philosophy, thousands of years. philos what do you bring to the tableo now? i have not read your latest boot what i'd be doing to convince other peop.le? why now? othepeople what do you have as far as that? would you say you are more or less apologetic? kind of more apologetic.terfa, c >> nothing has changed in termsa of apologizing for religion.. this claim that morality is in need can be a little confusing.n clearly we have moral emotions.

types of moral reasoning areng e emerging out of our biology and at some level are modified by culture.in playing great. we all come into this worldean, ready to speak a language. but then you learn the languagee based on what culture you happen based to arrive in. arrive we all come ready to speak chinese, but we don't because wa are not raised in china. we come into this world ready to recognize morally ciliatelient d situations. we deal w with discussed inin response to certain things. we have a notion of not harming something very much like the golden rule that is probably by default where we wind up and ethical terms, but all of thisr. can get modified by culture. havee are people who don't have these fold tool kits. psychopath's you just don't feec empathy. that is something we can other understand neurologically.

science up until this moment ha. limited itself to understanding all of that descriptive lead. you can tell an evolutionaryu ce story about why we are social priming and have come to be theb way we aree based on millions ow years of negotiating. harrowing social encounters. we can understand how it arrives at this type of reasoning in the brain. what is the brain have to do to notice moret lease eliot situations? but science is not purelyrienceo descriptive.ely what i'm saying is there is. another chapter open to us. an the moment we recognize we canr talk about morality. evolution has not designed as to de flourish to the ultimate degree. evolution doesn't care about ou. well being. it can't see. it does not care what we care about. it does not care about novels,

music, mathematics or science. it cares about successful scie reproduction of the species. asically we have flown theit'sa purse that has been prepared fot us by evolution, and we have to do that with the brains that we have evolved with. the prospects of human flourishing can be and is itshiu scientifically, and we can talk about morality and human valuesf in the context of the larger conversation. that is no longer reject a descriptive conversationco.ppeno that is a conversation about. what we can and should do so ase to maximize well-being. many scientists fear that scienh somehow you forsake your scientific dispassion the moment you start talking about the way people should live. but we don't do that. that is not true of health. eople should not did smallpox.e people should rely on evidence and coherent argument. yet, when you see that morality. really is translating intoyou

psychological and social help in the end then this stigma of arnd mak round making recommendations should ball awayal. >> we have just a couple of mor minutes.fread your >> review your passed proposition about jesus and islam, the perception of jesus being undefined. jesus is one of the highest but als profit. >> tester, but he's not divine. >> adam. mother mary is one of themother. highest respected ladies inisne islam. t >> heh is respected is and on. u >> for you to say it is on recognize jesus as profit --

>> i'm very careful with my words here. he is not defined.iv that would be polytheism. >> i realize we have a very limited time. is disproving only been recognized. perfect, not --nvasion >> okay.r >> before the invasion you have muslim, shiite, and soon the. li saddam hussein, ramadan. all right. perso two dozen sex. 206, british special forces were caught with explosives. forces when they were apprehended they bombarded. >> okay. >> whauld point.

peoplet people here are intellectual. they know what's going on. >> would you like a response? yo i get the gist of your question. >> let me respond to your question.stion c-span2 the response? ok. well, first of all, you are wrong about the status of jesus is as long. he is certainly respected and considered a profit, but he is not defined, and that's aet n'sial distinction. if you want to push that conversation further, what is the status of hinduism? the farmer going to grant youh there is no conflict between to islam and christianity, whichnon there is no reason to grant, there is clearly a conflictly at between islam and hinduism. poly polytheism is perfectly anesthetized.and e's there is just no debate. eba there are a billion hindus who are absolutely wrong.

conversion or the sword.and s i vas, it is true that ourin invasion of iraq poled the leada of a dictatorship off of these athnic and religious tensions,e but to say that life among suny and she has for a thousand yeara been wonderful is to disregarddf all of muslim history. mus it's just not true. and for the most part and not even talking about iraq. i'm talking about pakistan. on a daily basis mosques are bolona mycenae's. it is not the result of western occupation because we are not in pakistan. it has been going on for quite some time. it is understandable. the problem we have is that someone like osama bin lauden,

while you can say he is distorting the faith of islam, it is not really obvious how hee . ou you really have to split hairsao to see. i now, if he were on-or it jane or regi a buddhist it would be absolutelyw obvious how he wast distorting his faith. his behavior would be unintelligible. it is all too intelligible by the light of islam. to deny that is to simply liempy about the contents. >> i'm so sorry that we don'trem have any more time perwill be questions. tebow be back. th thank you very much.ank [applauding] muh. [applauding] >> for more on sam harris and his work visit sam harris got org.

>> you're watching book tv on c-span2. forty-eight hours of nonfiction books beginning every saturday at 8:00 a.m. here's our primetime live for tonight. beginning at 7:00 p.m. we look at john wilkes booth family and examine the relationship between john and his older brother, one of the most successful actors of his day. at 8:00 pauline man, american history professor at mit presenting the history of the ratification process of the u.s. constitution. recounts the yearlong debate that took place throughout the country following the constitutional convention as the newly released document was poured over by the citizenry. following that ron christi, founder of acting white. he traces the history and use of

the phrase acting white. he is interviewed by janet cohen , a political activist and wife of former defense secretary bill . we will wrap up the evening with every year of president george w. bush speaking about his memoir at the miami book fair international. that starts at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. ♪ >> next up portion of book tv monthly 3-hour live program "in depth." on the first sunday of each month we invite one of the to discuss their entire body of work and take your calls. "in depth" also includes a visit with the author to see where and how they write their books. that is what you are about to see. >> this is my hideout, this is my riding hideout. this house was built in 1740.

whenever people, appear to are a little more, have more money than i do or are a little more conventional, let's say, their first remark is you could really do something with this house. i've never done anything. this is important. this sign is very important on my door. fedex and ups, companies like that have a terrible habit of leaving notes on the door saying , you weren't here, we could deliver. people are always sending me -- a lot of teachers send me a long, long, hard felt writings about the challenges they are facing in the classroom. they will send me a thick, thick

envelope of letters that kids write to me. and i don't like having to go all the way back to the airport in boston to retrieve these things. i put these here and i signing. i figure if they won the signature they can rip this off and leave the package. this is the glorious kitchen. this is all there is. that is the kitchen. i think this was once a woodshed . this was all male i have not answered that i have not caught up with yet that has come in over the past month. i've tried. this is once the dining room. it has been taken over by notes

for one of the two books i'm working on now. this is all of the manuscript, revisions of my last ten bucks, the last eight books probably. it is not organized. you have to use your intuition to arrive at the right spot if you want to find the book you want. it's not alphabetic or anything. well, this is the only respectable room in my house. this is the living room. i am actually not in here all that much because i'm usually working in the back room, which is my office. there are only six runs in this house.

the ceilings are very low because when it was built people weren't as tall as they are now. that, i got, what do you call those things? high-definition tv solely to rots the red sox. that was one thing i would do for fun. apart from jogging out in the woods, i would follow the red sox. the yankees have been destroying them lately. i have given up on them for a while. i retired the new tv. this is where i just hang out and read. i do research. agreed to relax. i've read a lot. my reading, that fancy word,

eclectic. it is very eclectic. on the one hand i love the traditional literature that i grew up with when i was at harvard and later at oxford when i was living in paris. you know, i still read a lot of naughton, w. h. auden. he was at oxford when i was there. i love vaucluse. only this translation. if i read it in a different translation i don't like it as much. and also i've interviewed -- i look back and immerse myself in boats from the civil rights era. this is one of the volumes on dr. king. to be honest and spend a lot of

time reading children's books. when i am in class firms often what happens is the teacher will -- the no, i will look at the program. that looks interesting. the teacher will say to the class, should we -- should we let mr. jonathan had his own copy of that? they give me a lot of these books. this is a wonderful one, by the way. a sixth grader gave me this book a little girl in the bronx. the giver. it is very reminiscent of orwell in 1984. actually it is more subtle. it is a beautiful book. actually, adults like this book as much as children do.

i crashed out here and lie down. i will literally lie down. i test grab something in know, when i need strong nourishment that is not political of all and has nothing to do with all of the injustices we face, i would go through the anthology of poetry. i particularly like the elizabethan time. read john donne for a while or

some sonics some shakespeare. autumn is my modern favorite, i would say. those three pot codes to me. they are my soul food. a girl i wrote about in three of my last books. i called her pineapple. that was a fake name. it was in the south bronx. i met her when she was in kindergarten. she was this wonderful load row. used to give me instructions. very worried that i would live alone. she always tried to fix me up with the teachers and things like that.

my social counselor. she had pictures. she drew that picture for me once. i asked her. it is the son, obviously. you can't really tell. that was yellow originally. its fate. you can't really tell if it's rising or setting. i asked her. i said, is that the setting sun or rising sun? and because her life was very much in doubt at that point, her future because she was going through what probably was the worst single public-school of new york city, possibly the worst elementary school i've ever seen in 40 years. she had seven different teachers and fourth and fifth grade. they kept coming and leaving. so not at all clear whether her

son was rising or setting. i try not to read metaphors and to simple things, but she is of the older. i bought the picture back to her sat down. i said did you mean that to be a rising sun or setting sun? she looked at me real hard and she said you decide. and i ended that thought saying i like to think the sun is rising. indeed it is rising. last year she got into private

school. kind of a fancy school. somebody gave her a scholarship. i give the commencement address. she is now a college student. i'm very proud of her. a love that. maybe not everyone can recognize that face. that is langston used. when i was in my first year of teaching in boston in 1964-65 she was fired at the end of the school year because a red one of his palms to my class. he sent me that as my reward. above him is my daddy. that is my daddy when he was at mark harvard medical school in 1930. over here is just a bar of music

. among educators my closest friend, mr. rogers, he sent me that when i was plumy one week. he did not -- he was a musician, a good musician as well as an ordained minister and also one of the greatest friends and chad could ever have in our country. yes. over here. that is my mom, by the way. mom and dad just died. mom at 103 and that at 102. when he said that to me on my mother's 98 birthday he just was so thoughtful. i don't know how he kept track of all these birthdays and everything. he just was awfully kind.

>> and this is fred rogers. >> mr. rogers. yeah. and that was my reward. the only reason i kept that. my mom and dad were very worried about me when i gave up. i had gone to harvard and then oxford. when i decided to become a fourth grade teacher in the inner city in roxbury, that is boston's version of south central l.a. or the south bronx.

they were really worried about me. you know, they thought a former rhodes scholar should be doing something magnificent. i was 26 by then. at least be the governor of an insignificant state. but instead i had heard dr. king speak. a lot of young civil rights workers were being beaten up in the south. i get mad little vw and went over and started teaching at roxbury. they were worried i did not know what i was doing. i kept a journal of my first year of teaching. it was published at an early age. suddenly my daddy for gave me

everything. this is the one i like best. that is an honorary degree that i treasure. it is from a school in the bronx where i gave a commencement address, a kindergarten graduation. they gave me an honorary degree. as you can see it says doctor of crayons. very happy with that. >> this is where you do your writing. >> yes. i almost never let anyone in this room. i am giving you a special, i guess, a special exemption. this is where i have written all of my books for about 25 years, 22 years, i guess. essentially a right by hand.

i have always written by hand on these pads. if it is not this kind of pan and this kind of pad i just can't do a. i don't use a computer. i don't like to write with a computer. i don't like anything mechanical getting in between me and the words. i know this looks crazy. it is probably best if you don't film will wall in front of me simply because i am not to close up. the phone numbers of everybody i have ever had to call on the phone over the past ten years as something. every so often i go on a rampage and take down the ones that i don't need to call any more, but

believe it or not i know where everything is. it's there. a lot of the kids in the bronx, the kids i knew who are not teenagers or young grown-ups. they keep changing their cell phone numbers. i have to keep updating them. i do them on posted its. the keep of photo of my daddy at the age of -- that is when he was -- that was his 100th birthday. i come in here. a drink much too much coffee. it took me years. although gadget that keeps the cup hot. i don't answer the phone. i never answer the phone while i'm working.

i don't have an e-mail at home. a couple of wonderful assistance to run an office for me in cambridge. the fax machine here, but it's upstairs in a hidden place. i don't look at that for at least the first seven hours after a wake-up. i don't like the male. they don't deliver mail in any way. we have to get to a post office to get our mail. that's fine with me. i will -- i always like to start by actually writing. so if there is preparatory research that i need to do for that days writing and do it the night before. in other words, after a day of writing i will pull together all

the notes that the need for the next day's trading. because when i start, there's something about that cup of coffee. a certain mood of silence that is so peaceful. of just go straight to work. i tend to have this problem that when i -- see, when i write sometimes i don't leave enough margin space. i get too close to the margin. like here. here is an example. so then after two hours, three hours i will read what i have been doing. oh, no.

he needs and of little -- the world's, he forgot. just then i have to do all this. i'll have a line. to a. and then on a single page text. fortunately i have of a saintly friend . she cares a lot about these issues, these social issues, the moral issues. she, god bless her, types everything i do. i don't send anything the night i read it. i will rewrite everything a zillion times. maybe after three weeks and will center 60 pages of this

gibberish. she turns it into typescript that people can read and advise me. it usually takes me about 3-5 years to do a book. when she has done that 60 pages of typing what happens with that? >> well, then i will reduce it to a something that, you know, looks like -- looks like a dog chew it up. i'll change so much. we will go through maybe five of those provisions before that section of the book is set in place. then later, of course, there is

backtracking and research. all of the bottom shelves down there behind me, all of the data from the last two books. i am working on two books at once right now. i've never done that before. one book i'm working on is 25 years among the poorest children in america. what happened to them basically. and all of the bad stuff that puck, that's what i'm working on right now. my guest. a lot of that stuff is notes for the same book. and then at the same time -- i never planned to do this.

sometimes a book starts to right itself. when my father died last year he died exactly one year ago. my mom had just died the year before. one at the age of 102 and one at the age of 103. my mom had been a social worker. my dad was a very, very fine narrow psychiatrist. a very fine condition. by clinician i mean he wasn't just an expert who wrote essays on science, but he had a doctor's bag. i found it recently. i remember he would take me when he examined patients in the words of umass general hospital

at mclean which is a private center. writers seem to end up. he would take me with an. i was little. he would block me on a patient's bed and put the stethoscopes on my years. he would tell the patient, before i examine new i am letting my chief assistant to a preliminary exam. even the most deeply depressed person, a person in a pit of terror with smile. he was good at making people happy and laugh and smile. a wonderful doctor. and, you know, i was very close to them.

i'm 72. those are the big chunks of my life to have them with so long and remain so close. in my father's late years to develop alzheimer's. he diagnosed himself. that was his field. anyway, so i'm writing a memoir of my fathers' rights. it's called losing my father one day at a time. because doing -- about 15 years from retirement he began to have memory lapses through the time of severe alzheimer's and then to the time of his death last year. as strange as it may seem i got to be closer to him during those years. i felt i got to know him better than i had ever known him before

. so long as its conversational gives it remained to him he was still so damn eloquent. >> can i ask you if there is again person watching who wants to write their first book, what advice to you give people like that? >> don't make the mistake i made a spinning three years in paris taking that because i had studied writing and creative writing courses at harvard -- and i had wonderful teachers. don't make the mistake of thinking that you can just go and write a book. if you have never lived through anything that is worth writing about -- there are an awful lot of novels. i'm sure most of them never get

published. basically what are they going to write about? able by about what it is like to be in a creative writing class. i mean, i essentially started to give up writing when i left paris and came back to boston. and then the following year i was in the classroom. it is interesting. the year i gave up writing is the year that i wrote death at an early age. suddenly i was doing something that actually tore at my heart. worth writing about. i just started keeping a journal . just as i have kids keep the channel. every night a write-down what happened that day. and suddenly the round may my

girlfriend said to me, you know, i hate to break the bad news to you, but i think you have written a book. and i said, well, it doesn't really have an ending. i don't see it. and then they fired me. very loyal. they shut down my school. it helped spark the civil rights movement in boston. so i said thank you, you gave me an ending to my book. rewriting it. it took three years. i'm addicted to writing every single day. when i'm writing a painful but it's painful. i get upset. i mean, i will actually cry

sometimes. something seems unbearable. sometimes i feel like i'm speaking the unspeakable. there is a latin expression that i love. nothing comes out of nothing. you just don't get it cheap. >> wow, thank you for allowing us into your office and your house. >> thanks for coming. nobody else will get in here. >> "in depth" airs live on the first sunday. log on to booktv.org for more information about upcoming guests.

>> from the book tv archives research fellow at the hoover institution, recounting the life of red army chief. he examines the political career from his ascendancy as a young marxist to a bolshevik leader whose feud with joseph stalin led to his being targeted for assassination during his exile in mexico. ..