[applause] >> thank you and welcome, everyone. good afternoon everybody, thank you for coming. i'm alex, and this is my father, robert. all right. so the year was 1946. world war ii just ended and they were in a constant state of

alert but unknown to them in the aleutian islands near alaska, there was a different threat. in the middle of the night there was a major earthquake that triggered a 100-foot high wave. completely wash over the allow shawn island and tee destroying the lighthouse, and the keeper was swept out to sea. then the massive wave went out, headed straight for hawai'i. without warning, the first waves hit. the first one was two feet high. some people thought it was an april physical's joke but is wasn't. outside the bay stood a small island called coconut island. the bank made the tsunami

higher. it was 20 feet over when it washed over the island and was much stronger when it hit ohio a few seconds later. the downtown was destroyed. the wave was to powerful, even carried a train up the hill. many people ran down to the waterfront to see what was happening. many of those were never seen again. 25 miles north of hilo, at the bottom of a cliff, a small peninsula jutted out to the ocean. on the peninsula was school. it was beautiful but a terrible location for a school. the children had just gone off to school when the wave hit. they couldn't outrun so it the 24 students and teacher were swept out to sea. in the town there was a "named larry, he had just woken up and was brushing his teeth when his

mother announced a tsunami was hitting. he ran out and climbed into a tree when the wave hit. hit brother and father were holding on to each other and were afraid they would be swept out. the brother let go and was are in seen again. 151 people died on the big island that day, 96 in hilo alone. in 1948 the u.s. government set up the pacific tsunami warning center. a series of satellites satellitd seismic wave monitors in the ocean that tracks tsunamis. this is a tsunami tracking buoy. when the wave comes, the bowie -- buoy goes up and they can predict how tall and when it will hit. scientists can now warn people that a tsunami is coming, even if it's only an hour or so. another tsunami hit the big

island in 1960 but this time it had warning. the scientist believed it would hit around midnight. some people gathered on the hillside to watch it. the tsunami didn't arrive at midnight so most people gave up and went home. unfortunately, it did eventually hit about an hour later at 1:00. even with the warning, 61 people died. these tsunamis changed hilo. after 1960, the devastated area was turned into a green park with a memorial to those who died. the book i wrote with my father was inspired by these. this book is about a family with two children who go on a trip to hawai'i, paradise, and two kids each get to bring along a friend. what could possibly go wrong? >> that was the opening line of the book. what could possibly go wrong.

>> well, when the family was hike through the volcano's national park and the earthquake strikes, a series of massive waves hit the island. they happened to be hiking through a lava tube. now the lava is hardened, leaving a nice tunnel. during the earthquake the ceiling of the lava tube collapsed and the children are separated from their parents. this is a book about the exciting challenges. during the ordeal, the children learned a lot about the bay island landscape, ecosystems, volcanos and history of the islands. they also learn about the ancient hawaiian god who play an important role in the book, and they learn they were tougher than the originally thought. my family took a vacation to hawai'i last year. my father settled being

interesting -- it would be an excuse to do research for the book. well, it is hawai'i, and starts with a tsunami. and one of the place i went was monakai, which means white mountain, because it's 14,000 feet high, so during the winter, the snow freezes on top of it and that's why it's white, and that other picture is a crater, and we hiked across that. so that was pretty cool. >> for his next book he's going to pick another fun location. he knows that research is an important part of writing. >> that is me on top of the monokai, and that's an observatory called to enthusiastic observatory. the many one up there. and it was pretty cold, and the

air is so thin on top of the mountain, it was hard to breathe. and the picture over there on the top right is a tradition celebrated by the hawaiians that shows how the hawaiians went from tahiti to hawai'i. and on the bottom right, not a canadian goose. it's a nene goose, the hawai'i state bird. a fun picture. >> here's some more hawai'i pictures. that's a picture of -- the early hawaiians would carve these pictures into stone, just kind of told stories. like the story i wrote in a way. geckos are common and they decided to draw a picture of them. they're still there today. this picture is my sister and i,

who is sitting right there. we hiked down into the crater, which i showed earlier. and there were a lot of vents and stuff. some hot. >> you could smell the sulfur everybody. >> and his tree has a beautiful red flower and it can survive the sulfur and the gas and stuff on the crater because most plants can't survive that, and this -- pretty cool. the bottom picture is to show how tall monica is. it's even taller than the plane in the clouds when we were flying. that's the view. next slide. okay. well, it was very cool to experience my characters' experience. fortunately we didn't experience a tsunami. i also learned during the 1950

tsunami there were kids camping in the park when the wave hit. this is the spot where my book it set. i want to behind my talk about writing a book. after the tsunami hit japan i thought of the story of the tsunami hitting hawai'i. i thought of the characters, the sending and the ending. my father wrote biebs on history and politics and i asked him assistance in writing this novel. i had a lot of fun researching the book. i got a trip to hawai'i. it was also fund -- fun 0 to couple up with characters and give. the names. for example, in the book, the kids encounter two criminals who were able to escape because of the earthquake and the tsunami. >> they got out of prison. >> i named him scar, and we wrote that apparently scar once got into a fight with a notify.

one of the characters -- then another character pointed out, should have seen what happened to the other guy, and scar's partner was a huge man with arms the size -- head like a big coconut to get a readers of how huge he was, we made him so big that had to cut the sleeves and neck out over the prison jacket so he could fit. and when he stepped on the bus that transportedded the prisoners, the bus leaned in his direction. so we made him so big and tough. there were several possible names for him. >> tiny. >> we developed the storyline, the adventure twists with a surprise ending which i won't tell you about. you have to get the book. and the teacher is always trying to get kids to read and politicians are trying to get parents and kids kids to read together. so we decided instead of reading together, it would be a great

idea to write together. so we put it on our web site, let's wright together.com, and just to help people write, and it gives helpful tips and information, and we have a blog on the web site where i will post.how to write a book and helpful tips. so i think it's real cool, and i want people to experience what we experienced. it was really fun to write together. >> great fun. go to tri-mark press.com or let let wright together web site, we're posting tips how to write a book. kids and their friends, kids and their parents, or kids and their grandparents. a lot of grandparents are retired and have time and can write a book with their grandkids. so it might seem an intimidating process. >> it was really fun, and we have bookmarks in the back that you can pick up that has the web

site and some of the fun events we'll be doing. sneaking of those, we also have these essay writing events which will host for kids of the area. they can write essays and submit them to us, and the best essays will get published into a book. >> so hopefully be a transformative endeavor for kids to see their name in print and have the confidence to read and write more. >> the last one i want to mention is scientists know more about hurricane than tsunamis. tsunami are caused by a massive. no the tectonic plates, a massive undersea earthquake, a landslide into the ocean, and a meteor crashing into the ocean. these waves can travel at speeds of hundreds of miles-per-hour. witnesses have describe it sounding like a train, which is how we describe it in the book. the travel across entire oceans

and swallow cities on the coast. tsunamis have struck throughout history. i found out almost every country and culture have stories of giant, massive killer waves and that's an example of one. a picture of a japanese tsunami, called the great wave. scientists say the tsunami strike every seven years in recent years they have hit indonesia and japan, and that's indonesia in 2004 and japan in 2011. and one of the worst in recorded history ever occurred in japannin' 1896 when a 100-foot high wave killed 22,000 people. 20th century alone, about 50,000 people have died from tsunamis. we still don't know when they'll hit. so it's not if but when the next one will strike. so beware of the waves.

thank you. >> we're happy to take questions. you can queue up here at the microphone, or raise your hand and we'll repeat them. ment. >> we'll start in order. one, two, and the microphone is in the middle here. >> i have a very simple question. are you really 12 years old? >> really 12 years old. >> yeah. >> just the size of an nfl linebacker. he's only 12. he first came up with the idea -- >> i was ten. >> came in and got me up, must have been 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, and usually i ask for a little bit more time to sleep, but he said, let's write a book together. and as a father, you know, other than getting married and having two children, that's the most exciting thing that ever happened to me. so i sat up and said, you bet.

and we sat down and i said here's what we need to do. which is if you wonder about writing a book with family and friend. >> itself was great experience. we want other people to experience it. >> it was a lot of fun. the idea of -- i told him to sit down and come up with a story line. have you ever been to 0 a really fun place, a fun family vacation, set trip. there is a movie you like? think about something in science. use that as the plot. come up with characters, and i told him, give them names, breathe some life into. the how tall they are, what they like to do, do they have hobbies, and then develop the characters and i asked him to come up with ideas what the protagonist -- the concept called foreshadowing, and he came back in a few days and had it laid out, and it's a lot of foreshadowing. >> a lot. >> as you're reading you can see that we're trying to bait you

what might be happening later in the book. so that was a lot of fun. if you hear bagpipes and sirens week not in scotland and in an emergency. that's a parade behind the library. >> i'm interested in how you -- in the process of writing, very technologically different in terms of writing than my generation. even now i write and then go to the computer. do you go to the computer and do you edit? i know young people when they're writing now, they're short -- i'm a stickler for gramar and how is it in terms of the process. >> well, we didn't go directly

to the computer. what we do is we'd just kind of talk about it. what we wanted to do in each chapter. and then we had a notebook where we just wrote down some ideas. we just made an outline of what we wanted to write about. >> we would do a lot of walks, bike rides, jogs, and we would discuss -- i would say, give me a good twist, and he would come up with ideas for twists, and then we'd chew on it and pick which one we thought was best. and then hammer it out and then sit down at the computer and write. i think one of the things that is good news for me, as a professor, i hear you loud and clear. students write, if they want to say how are you, they write r, u, or text or abrief -- abbreviate. my daughter and son love to read. they both have libraries in their bedrooms and pour through books. probably read more than me.

so by reading so much it's helped their vocabulary and writing, the command of grammar and so forth. >> who did the actual writing, putting the language down and if you hat creative differences how did you solve them? >> first with differences. we didn't really have too many arguments. [laughter] >> now, surprisingly, i'd say 95% of the book we wrote lock step, and after a jog or bike ride, when he would say i want to develop this character, here's how old i want him to me. and my contribution is i would say something like, well, what kind of friend would he take to hawai'i with system as a parent, if you say you're bringing a friend on vacation, i'd have some questions. so what question does you think the parents would have? so i kind of prompted. but he wrote it. i did editing, and then he wooed did me. so we went back -- i think.

>> we had this tag team experience. he would write, and he wooed did, and then i'd write some and we would come together and discuss ideas. >> a lot of days he would it? front of the computer and i would sit beside him, and as he is typing i would say, how would they describe it and if a tsunami is coming, how would it sound in when we went to hawai'i we saw the tsunami memorial and he read the newman system -- tsunami tsunami sounds like a freight train. so we wanted to make it realistic so we described it coming like that. and even in our book, he saw this when we were in hawai'i -- before a tsunami comes, the water recedes. almost like it pulls the water out. so what happened in indonesia, people walked out on the beach to pick up fish, and then, kaboom. so, remembered all that and he said we'll have the water recede and then the sound of a freight

train. >> wanted to make it as realistic as possible. >> we debated whether we should kill off a character because if it's a kids book and we went around, not disagreeing but compensating. >> and we found a way in between. we decided the character would die but we wouldn't describe the death. >> it wasn't a gruesome description. >> he is there, spend he sees the wave coming, runs, turns around, is gone. >> we tried to handle it, as alex said earlier, there's a tie-in with the hawaiian gods and you'll pick up a lot -- in fact it was his idea to put a glossary of hawai'i yap terms in front and use actual hawaiian words to describe things. so you'll pick up a bit of the language and culture, but we tried to make sure that the hawaiian gods and some legends in hawai'i were -- it's a

subplot that weaves its way through the story. which i think you'll enjoy. it's kind of fun. >> what was the target? >> i think nine to 14. >> probably eight to 15, but i think he is probably right. and with his age, and his friends, a lot of time is would tell him, if he was writing at night when i was out working or writing myself, i would say think about your friends in a recent book you read and target it there. so we were careful to make sure -- and we've had our publishers, tri-mark, they all read and it looked it. we have had friends and family members read it and they liked it. some adults, too. it was valuable for alex because i would say, what language would -- the kids in the book are his age so he knew the language they would you, and one fun exercise, i set -- a pete peeve of mine when you read novels, all the characters sound the same and all the voice of

the writer. so, certain characters, the sister of the many character -- >> for example, one of the characters said to make it sound more of their age, their generation. one of the characters spoke too perfectly. so i added some, likes, and ums and stuff. >> sounds like a teenager. then the one hawaiian -- the prisoner who is bad and the kids have to escape from him and deal with these prisoners -- we won't tell you what happens -- in hawai'i everybody says bra. so the guy is also talk can to the character and saying bra, and little terms they use in hawai'i we try to bring into it. so i had him learn a couple dozen words in hawaiian, so we could make it as authentic as possible. these are questions. you can line up here, too. >> what. [inaudible] >> what was the funnest part of

writing a book? and the worst part? >> the toughest part. which one do -- >> we'll start off with the bad stuff first. get that out of the way. the worst part was definitely writer block. i hate writer's block. you ghetto the point you lose ideas so to get ripped that we would take breaks and discuss some things, what we wanted to change or keep the name and what way wanted to do. so it was hard to manage but we got through it. >> the best way to deal with writer's block is to get away from it. i'd say, why don't we ride our bikes to the park and while we're throwing a frisbee or kicking a soccer ball, we pick it back up and it would come to you, and he'd say, i think the character should do a., b., or c., and then we would get back on it. >> another example of writer's

block is like a puzzle. you do a puzzle and after a while you get stuck and don't nowhere the pieces are. so you leave and then you come back the next morning, and you find tons of obvious mistakes. >> i think it was the second or third time before our publisher told us they were ready to move forward. we wanted to proofread the whole manuscript and i couldn't believe -- i would say, look at this, we missed this, and he would say, my gosh, we spelled the guy's name wrong. tell them about the cover, the back cover, we almost -- this is good. >> so, our publishers found this. >> our main quote for the novel is, what could possibly go wrong? and that is on our back cover. we spelled "possibly" wrong. >> that's what could go wrong. so we learned about -- he learned a good lesson in proofreading, and we thought we

had this thing nailed and it's ready to go to print, and barry and penelope say there's something you missed. we missed the back cover. we were so focused on the trees weeing for government about -- forgot about the cover. >> your brain tricks you, and you know what supposed to be there but your brain doesn't catch it. >> the best thing about it? >> the best. the best? the funnest part was definitely coming up with the characters. i liked giving them different attitudes and different ways of talking and coming up with names. >> i remember you saying to me sometimes you're frustrated -- any good author will do this, and i'm sure you all experience it. you're reading and you want a character to succeed or you want the bad guy to get what is coming to him, and then the bad guy skeeted and -- you know, you want the couple to come together

and find one another, and you find yourself immersed in the story. and he said he is sometimes frustrated in the books he reads but it was fun having control over the characters. i said, make sure you have some twist and turns. looks like the, whichs going to make and it the bad guys will prevail. so that was fun. >> also -- that's not the best part. the best part was the vacation to hawai'i. >> then the other best part will be when y'all by a book and he makes money. the best part for me is, as a father, and all of you can appreciate this as parents -- instead of having your kids say they want to play video game have an attitude, having your kids say i want to write a book, and i said yes immediately. i think even if he had not sketched the outline and develop the characters dish said if you do this i'll help you and we'll get this published. and he did. even if he didn't i probably would have published him into it

bus it was so much fun. another good part, i think, for both of us, our publisher, tri-mark, one of the reasons we picked them, they're local, but they were very generous in that they let him help design the cover. the let him design the font. he sat down with barry and penelope and picked the font. there's icons icons and logos. he picked them out. they let him sit beside the editor so he got chance to walk through the publishing process, and used about a dozen different major publishers for my history and political books and i think two of them they allowed me to pick the cover. so he got to actually walk through the process, which was really fun. there's one back here and then a young lady in the front. >> number one, how -- [inaudible] >> i'd say about half the year

to write the book. >> six months. >> and then that was for writing the book itself, and how long did the publisher take? >> another six months. it was faster than usual. i tried to produce a book a year, which is probably -- that's why i have bags under the eyes. we would have days where we would writ a chapter or i would say, have of give a speech, work on it, and i would come home at midnight from a town hall and turn it on and the whole chapter is done. then he would have tests at school, or water polo practice, or tennis practice, or -- and i would have a deadline. so might go two or three weeks when we didn't put a word down. so we wi did it in chunks. >> the other thing, i'm. [inaudible] >> check our web site out. >> let's write together.com.

>> what the future is of writing? she wants to be a -- what is the future of actual published books versus what is -- >> well, i think the whole world, the communication -- the question was about the future of publishing in terms of the published book that you hold in your hand. politics, education, media, corporate america, everything is on the wave to use our expression, of technology. for example, my courses at the university, i have an electronic blackboard and some of my classes are done online and i worker paperless. my students -- this is one of the first universities in the country you go to ipad and my students' assignments are on their ipads, they're electronic and submit them electronic limp i don't get papers anymore. so everything is moving in that direction.

in the next few years there will be a principled book and also a digitized or electronic format. eventually we'll move in the direction of kindle and nook but there are enough -- how many of you like having a book in your hands? >> yes...

but the book will be about. think of what age group you wanted to be, what you want to write about. i think it was not even the title. i told you, a one word title. he just said tsunami, which makes sense. even the title was not the first thing. it was just to think about, you know, where is it set. come up with foreshadowing. make twists and turns. he did all that and self. the only thing as it was make sure there's a good moral of the story. we were both in agreement. some guys lessons so this beat. >> that's good. >> what advice would you give your kid a loss to write a book? >> no matter what people tell you, you know what you're doing is right. and writing a book, a cool that.

>> and most. >> professors. >> just keep on pushing forward. whenever you want to do, just do it. get it done. when you start with something, you have to finish it. >> in the book is a challenge. so it is not a light walk in the park. this is, you know, double space printed out, i guess this is 200, 300 pages. you end up 100 something. 180 or something like that. it is a good pool. you know, i think, you know, it is good for your confidence. he is 12 years old and as a published book and is speaking on national television in front of a group of well-educated sharp focus. when i was told there was no way that i condemn this. -- that i could have done this. so it is a great confidence boost. and if a kid writes a book, he

can do anything. if he read a book imagine the confidence as you approach your next three paging this paper. please. that is a walk in the park now. one year and then over here. >> an opportunity to present this to folks his aides. we have a half dozen areas, libraries of the next 6-9 months of we will go to undo some. well we need to do is set up some schools tough -- this is the very first talk. his very first speech. so we will -- [applause] so we will try to set up some area libraries for school groups

. leave have talked to a couple of libraries in areas that are trying to have the kids program date. a library will have the kids reading program, featured events . so we are hoping. and as you mentioned earlier, we talked about this idea of the kids writing project. schools all around the area. the kids write short stories and submit them to us. you will have volunteers' help us judge them and piqua's to get them published. >> one, two, three. >> my son has been working on his novel. i can't read it. >> that is that the kind you want to read. when your 60 and 20.

>> well, getting published, publishing companies are having difficulties because of the electron a platform. people are not reading as much. so forth. the competition. so publishing is a big thing these days. both macs and various word-processing, there are various items published type of programs you can publish yourself. there are publishing companies. and firms will just up the published. you can do it online and then get facebook, twitter, and youtube and get your own book out there were some people use a literary agent. we chose not to because of what i do for a living. i understood the publishing industry until we get a publishing. >> we had set to close such great publishers. >> there you go, and they are here today. if you could use a literary agent. we chose not to. one good advice is every library has been given to making this one. go to your local library's book

event and talk to a lot of author and as device. there are book clubs. miami hosts of the best fares in the year. go and they have how to publish demonstrations were talks. their publishers soliciting manuscript, literary agents are soliciting clients. we looked at two publishers, i contacted the university of allied. he was born in hawaii. and we figured they might like it. then we were thinking about it. i said, let me find a local publisher. my dream was that he would not just write a book but get to do other things that we discussed earlier, like designing cover. so i found a local publishing company. and that local angle that we felt was important. so go online and find out if there are publishers in the area. go to the miami book fair, your local library, join a book club, call your local university and talk to an english professor where professor that red stains.

as a lot of resources out there. >> talking about publishing and spreading the word. the storm, sandy, affecting the children. i think that that would be a perfect context everything like that. >> i think that when they will ask our publisher's marketing department to contact schools and libraries in connecticut and new jersey. and it might be in new york. might be therapeutic, in a way, for kids to read something that they've gone through and see that it is not just -- it always helps us to deal with tragedy of we know that others. that is a great idea. thank you for that. [applause]

>> focus on children. >> seniors. in awful lot of seniors. >> in south florida? really? keep your eyes open. the idea about partner in with seniors. now, this audience, a grandmother or grandfather. you know, you're retired. you have time and enhance project at a website. the website. write a book with your grandkids. what a wonderful way of pushing the generation and understanding them in an understanding you, maybe even setting is something they're interested in are setting it historical with world war ii or some kind of setting that would be an educational experience for them as well so that you cannot pick up a copy of the book banning take some tips for your kids and grandkids.

>> read a book with you. >> you want to take that? >> we have talked about this in the house a lot. so we are kind of like a boy group. she would need to read with her mother are something. >> talking about it. my daughter as talks about myself and my wife and has actually said the same thing. put together a story line. come up with names of characters. and that card to tell you, she has already worked out a little bit. she's only nine. she has worked at an idea, probably this summer it will sit down with there and work with her and encourage her to write a book and go back to our publisher. >> one thing. >> was hearing his teacher by? >> yes, she was pretty involved. >> the question? there we go.

one in the back. we have to appear. >> first of all a very impressive, you know, for a 12 year-old. [applause] [inaudible question] >> notice where i am standing. [inaudible question] >> i am wondering if you have any plans for next book? >> funny you should say that about the next book. >> should i give away the topic? >> sure. >> i will tell you the ending, though. the topic is, we are going to make a series, about ten books

that we say? it is about a kid who is about to over 13 and he has a father who is a scientist and comes up with a time machine. they get a tryout. it breaks. they get worked around all kinds of time. we named the book series time zone. >> right to travel all over the world throughout time and they're going to, you know, the kid will battle in the coliseum with a gladiators'. he will go back and crossed the delaware river with george washington, go back and, you know, fight the french and indian war. meet pharaohs and meet moses and the camino, all kinds of neat things around history. so that will be -- it should be fun. if it takes several years to produce them the kid can age with them. you know, for example, and that is one things, he reads a lot of sears's. whether it is a hundred years or never. harry potter, the love a series.

and is fond of of the character from book to book to book losses would be fun for us to watch the kid and his father grow and age. >> as they develop. >> sure. >> okay. [inaudible question] >> you should be a very proud of the way you conduct yourself. [applause] >> thank you. >> he's a great kid. [inaudible question]

>> that might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. [applause] especially i write columns in newspapers and tv commentary on politics, get a few nasty mess from time to time. that was nice. you know, i must say, my line is always, thank god. one thing that helps both of us, we're both educators. so we are around young folks. we prioritize education and reading with our kids who grew up in a household has lots of books and celebrates that sort of thing. we also grew up in a household where we all go to vote, the kids go with us and get the stickers. we grew up. we make sure it is a household word. our kids travel of route let america, europe, you name it. they see the world and have friends from all over the world so that they are exposed to the

right kind of thing. and we also -- well, i think all of that is the base, the framework, i think. and i don't think, you know -- >> i have it in my blood. >> good dna, maybe. you know, this -- there is not a how-to book for parenting. the wonderful thing is my sister and and i are different. my kids are different. my wife and i have different views. it is not a how-to, 10-step manual, where you can do as the basis is make sure your kids travel, that they friend up with good friends, expose them to reading and open mindedness. a lot of human rights, civil rights, fight against anti-semitic behavior and things to that effect which is part of the of our income as is recycling every day. i give them. go, recycle. so i think there is no how best to, but those are of the

building blocks for decent parenting. [applause] >> i see the wonderful instructions that you give him. >> and i will stay for the viewing audience, we did not set this up. for those of you in tv land to my assure you, did not plant this people in the audience. that is nice. [inaudible question] >> it is amazing. the father and mother. and as said. [inaudible question] >> well, thank you. again, one thing that we do, my wife and i above very busy. i think every parent these days is a full-time taxi driver. you know, the school play again, in tennis, water polo, friday. you name it.

plays in a jazz band, piano, clarinet, he even played the bagpipes. he let the ukulele. and my daughter is the same way. she does a hundred things. some of life as a full-time taxi driver, and i'm a part-time taxi driver. one thing we have tried to do, for example, is because of what i do for a living as a professor of history and politics, for example, i had to go to washington d.c., so we took all family along. maybe we have to do some research, but the nine bravado to the lincoln memorial for the smithsonian the next day or something. i sometimes lecture on a cruise ship or overseas. so what we do is we -- some of your in the audience are working so we do is we will take all family along. and goodness, the kids at a tender age get to go to st. petersburg. so history comes to life for them. so i think we found -- i am on

the board, for example, the german foundation. they have been to determine how. they actually stayed in the german home overnight. what a fun thing for them. you know, some work and my wife's work, we try to make -- my wife teaches language is, he is fluent in spanish, as is my daughter. some french and italian. so we try to make our lives as much as possible. it was a good question. >> get some public. i don't know how you became. i'm going to say -- [inaudible question] >> no, i did not want to self published his first book. down the road maybe can do it every once, but that was nice to his first book out in print with an established public gate to the publishing company and see the steps of the process. a copy editing, the marketing,

you know, the formatting of the book. i felt that would be a good process. so i told them, we're going to find a publisher. and then, you know, what he does with the next books heavy-duty leather, with every wants to do, he can make those decisions. i have used many. established prices. and i am comfortable. one of these days a suspect you will all move in that direction. for nothing that is important. the state where two more. [inaudible question] >> how long does it take to write a book? about six months rose. >> yes. >> you know, i think it depends on how much you're right and how many hours a day. it is hard when you're busy, so there are days that we did not

ride it all. nothing that is a good thing because when you write every day you might get tired of it. i walk away from writing projects. >> also, we got it done pretty quickly because we row during the summer break while i did not school. >> the lion's share of it in the summer including our trip to lie. last customer. >> after this series. [laughter] >> okay. >> and short. and pretty sure i might. it's in the blood. >> i love to write. i find it to be fun and therapeutic, actually. so i definitely well. we're planning a series. we will continue. let me thank everyone for coming out and competing. thank you to library. thank you to c-span and book tv. i am not sure if they've ever done a program of the teenager.

so thank you. we will be in the back signing copies of the book if you have other questions. thanks to everyone. all done. [applause] >> book tv is on facebook. like us to interact with book tv yes, and viewers to watch videos commanded up debt date information and events. facebook.com/booktv. >> you're watching book tv on c-span2. here is our prime-time lineup for tonight. coming up next, kent anderson joins us for american university to discuss his book living with the u.n.

>> here is a look of some of the upcoming book fares and vessels happening around the country.

>> and now the origins of mesa as a mormon settlement. >> well, got its start sort of as an outpost.

originally supposed to part of a trail of settlement between utah and mexico. indeed, that is what it was. the first pioneers sent by brigham young skynyrd 1977 and settled in lehigh, which is today. they have the same trouble adapting to the climate as everybody else does in arizona, particularly before we got air-conditioning. so naturally they brought their homesteads and began cultivation and began building canals, but naturally and this summer's it gets pretty hot. so they would do things like build porches where you could sleep. it would what down sheets and put them, you know, around the building, around windows so that you would get an early cooling. we're talking about 1877 and the early 20th century. the climate in arizona, particularly in the desert areas , has always been a challenge. but it has always been one that the settlers and pioneers have been willing to let me just as

the prehistoric peoples did. the salt river valley. so they started there communities, small public communities cannot nucleate to begin with, and so there were almost like villages. it not really even achieved township to begin with a mobile water from the beginning was an issue. now, the river, of course, it invited a lot of water to the early settlers, but what they had to do is figure out how to get water off of the river and into their fields for crops and also for domestic use. so they built a series of canals, and those canals that we use today to get up water around the valley, those canals were built really on the basis of following the routes that the prehistoric people had built in prehistoric times before 145080. so when the first pioneers got here in the use of this prehistoric and now, cleaned it out, and large and, perhaps, and used that model to build their

own canals and are still using this debate. as i mentioned, lehigh, 1777, the following year to may to 78, there was another groups and from utah called the mesa company. the first was called the utah company. they seldom what is now central may set, basically read during this interview. also, about the same time, phoenix and tempe were settled. there were small communities at that time as well. we're talking about very small, even in the 1900's, 30 years after mesa had been settled, the population was still under 800. in the 1910 the population was only 1600. so even at the time of the end of the second world war, beginning of the second world war, the raleigh 7,000 people here. so it gives you something to exponential growth that we have had. today mesa is the 38 richest city in the united states with a population of about 450,000.

and to some degree it has grown because in the phoenix metropolitan area, which is 13 and half million. one of the largest and the estates. but nevertheless, developing a diverse economy, originally grew up around arab culture, of course. there's still an agricultural sector here. the most important. now we have aviation. we have a lot of modern technological companies. and, of course, tourism has always been an activity. so it is a more diverse economy. as i say, a fairly robust economy given the economic downturn of the zero countries recently experiencing. think it is a fairly important. the history of the city that you live in. in some ways it is a key to the future. gives you perspective on decisions that the earlier governments made. it teaches you about the history of the country as well as about

the history of your community. but it points toward the future and often gives you morning. emmy, for example, water contains crucial @booktv for people selling in the desert at the time of the prehistoric indians to today, it is still as critical for us as it was 2,000 years ago when it americans are living here. we collected their adaptation, the adaptation of early settlers , and look now at the needs of an urban population area that will be almost 4 million very shortly. and so sustainability, land use, water use, if we need to know all that. and as a clue as to how we ought to make decisions about the future. >> for more permission on book tv recent visit to mesa, ariz., and many other cities as a bar local content vehicles, go to c-span.org / local content. >> it is important to remember,

as central banker, his tools are limited. he cannot control everything that goes on in the economy. >> and so, you know, riders, like customer is very important what they do. there really do shape the course of economies and of the world. that said, at the end of the day they do have finite powers that they can use. many rarely boil down, they have a dial. nicosia, we will put more money into the economy less. it is more complicated than that. as you and i know, they can transpose things. but to think that everything is their fault is wrong. to think that everything that has gone right, you know, alan greenspan probably got too much credit for the great moderation for many years of strong growth that we had in the 2000's, you know, it is easy to a blame alan greenspan and the federal reserve before the crisis for what we see now as probably

overseeing things. >> the creation of the world's central banks and other managers developed global power on after words tonight on 9:00 eastern, part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. >> year's elections of the latest deadline surrounding the publishing industry this past week. author and former u.s. house of representatives historian robert rimini died on march 28 at the age of 91. he was a recipient of the national book award in 1984 for his three volume biography of andrew jackson. he also wrote the first history of the house of representatives in 2002. he made several appearances on book tv, and you can watch and discuss some of his books online at booktv.org. square books in oxford mississippi has been named the publisher's weekly bookstore of the year for 2013. the bookstore, founded in 1979 to miles of their presentations, live radio talk shows as well as