roll. there are very few dogs that act fat way, from experience. most dogs don't have that genetic trait and it stands to reason, it is counterintuitive that a lack of self preservation exists in most animals, cumin beings included. it is an anomaly treat even when breeding for it, it is rand v. elusive but some things that is crucial for the type of work we do. what makes the selection process so difficult is finding a dog that has everyone of those qualities in very high caliber. kind of like the analogy i use a lot is lebron james or michael jordan of dogs, they have to be at their very best level in every aspect of what we are asking them to do. it is difficult. >> what are your options? >> the question is in terms of

inbreeding and line breeding, without getting too into the weeds in genetic theory essentially with breeding programs of any animal we are funneling genetics. there is a desired outcome we are trying to accomplish with the breeding program and you have to double up on these qualities. the thing you have to be careful with is when you double up on good qualities you also double up on the bad ones. this isn't a good idea for people, it has to be absolute textbook consummate examples of what you are trying to accomplish and even then you have to be very careful with it. with again, thank you. that is all the time we have. i >> this program was part of the seventh annual savannah book festival. for more information, visit savannahbookfestival.org.

>> up next from booktv's trip to salem, oregon, ron miner details the experiences of his father during world war ii. >> one of my earliest memories was a moment where he had taken me to the basement in a file cabinet, and inside of it he had a manila folder full of these exciting sketches of planes and judge les and soldiers and all this kind of thing, and they were all kind of tattered, worn pages. and exciting stuff for a kid. so i used to sneak down there with friends, and i'd show them these pictures, and we would just imagine what the stories were. and then one day i went down there, and it was locked. so he must have been on to me. anyhow, i never saw them again as a young man. so when he passed away a couple years ago at 92, i found the sketches again. we found them as we were going through some of his things, and

we were relieved to see all in this world war ii art because it dates back to the 1940s, and e had done it on his -- he had done it on his down time between missions. howard miner was my father. he was one of the navy black cats, it was a group of navy military guys that fought in the south pacific during world war ii, and they flew in these lumbering planes called pbys or catalinas. and the black cats were distinctive in that the planes were not terribly well suited for, almost obsolete, as a matter of fact, and not well suited for combat. they weren't well armed and were not particularly elusive, very slow. and so they had to come up with ways to protect themselves from

attacking aircraft, and so that was what the black cats were, they were kind of an ingenius bunch that figured out ways of taking what is normally the most difficult part for a plane, the most hazardous part for flying, and that's flying at night and using it to their advantage. initially, their roles were more patrol and search and light harassment sort of activities. as time wore on, they became more adept at flying at night. the planes were painted black, didn't use any lights, had flame arresters on their engine, and so as they became to become more or less invisible at night, they were able to extend what they did and become more effective for not only searching for things, attacking them, bombing

them, strafing them and general harassment activities. in that first tour, he was a copilot navigator, just an ensign, so they did fly in the typical black cat fashion. they did a lot of these search and harassment missions, they would even try to keep japanese troops up overnight just flying around, making noise, throwing bottles out, anything they could think of. but certainly a big part of it was doing these light bombing runs and just searching for contact and radioing that information in to the proper places. so he was involved heavily in that in his first tour. his second tour he became a what they call a ppc or a patrol plane commander and had his own plane and crew at that point. it was called the frisco gal, and he -- as allied forces pushed north toward the philippines, more and more they flew in the daylight and did

more and more rescue missions because so many of our planes were being shot down, and these guys were in life rafts and on island and needed pickup. pby, i didn't mention, was a totally amphibious airplane at this point, so it could land both on runways and in the water. they were nicknamed flying boats, as a matter of fact, and they would land as near to an island or a raft as they could get, frequently they'd visit with these rescued fliers in their canoes or outriggers, whatever they had. a lot of the sketches would involve airplanes, military people, just settings sometimes, trees or koala bears, whatever captured his imagination he would do water colors or sketches of. and so the book is actually featuring his illustrations as a part of his story all the way through it. he was an artistic guy.

we always knew growing up that he could build or draw or make just about anything, and he did win some awards at,s like, state fairs and that kind of of thing, teenage competitions, so he always had a knack for it. he was particularly good at drawing things like sustains -- trains and planes, different buildings, things like that. so he was a natural, for sure, but he kind of took it to another level when he got into the military, and he designed the squadron logo, for instance, he painted nose art on his plane, kind of a scantily-clad lady, as you might imagine, a front and a back view depending on which side of the plane you approached. and did the water colors and sketches of just things that they saw. one in particular that really caught my attention was a time where he had on a rescue he had managed to locate and pick up five survivors on an island, and

they had been through so much, and their stories were so poignant on how they managed to even find the pickup location and managed to stay just ahead of japanese, they were pursuing them. and they were so happy to see this plane, this pby. and they got back and one of -- two of them actually developed malaria and got quite sick and were not able to fly back home, and the other three all boarded a big transport plane, and all the guys from the pby went up into the sea plane tender where they were staying to watch the takeoff and were all excited to wave good-bye to them. and the plane was just leaving the runway when somebody on a joyride came in and clipped the tail of the plane, and it pin wheeled in and blew up and killed everybody on it. so after all this, they perished anyway. so it turned out that the two guys that had malaria were actually the lucky ones because they weren't on that plane. he didn't talk that much about the war, and pretty typical of world war ii vets, they just didn't do that much generally.

they just felt it was a job that needed to be done, and it was over, and they kind of saved their stories for each other at reunions and things like that. so we didn't talk much about it until the last few years of his life. my dad passed away in 2011. when we went through his things and found this artwork, we were really surprised to see how much other writing and photographs and keepsakes, them probill ya that he decide memorabilia that he had kept for nearly 70 years x. inside of was a variety of notebooks, flight logs, ledgers, even my grandmother's scrapbook that had all this newspaper clippings and photos. a lot of the firsthand accounts that he had kept on old envelopes and manila pages were still intact and still in there. very difficult to read at this point, but they were

fascinating. after struggling through them, i was able to kind of piece together a story over some time. and it took me a lot of research with navy records of the black cats to kind of jive what he had written and what -- with the real war diary was. and finally managed to put the timeline together through the use of all these, you know, various pieces. i was surprised, i had no idea he'd been through so much, and i was also surprised to find out as much as i i have about the black cats in general. it's a remarkable group and really one of the least-told stories of world war ii, just their significance to the whole thing. everything from rescues to just becoming this stealth aircraft that nobody had seen the likes after before. one of the first to use radar, for instance. one of the first to have an altimeter so they could fly low over the water and be virtually

invisible. fascinating stuff, and i didn't know any of that. i feel like it's a tribute to the black cats and to dad, first of all, they both deserve it. and my opportunity you have to -- any opportunity you have to tell a story like this, it's just an important opportunity, and i also feel like it's been a great opportunity to meet veterans, world war ii veterans in particular. and i've met four black cats now. three and about to meet the fourth. one who actually knew and flew with my dad -- let me correct that, two who actually knew and flew with my dad. and they found out about it more or less from the book. so that's been a real important, you know, side effect of the whole thing. but one of the most satisfying things is just meeting other people and maybe even the book

has inspired them to go ahead and talk to their own parents or loved one who may have served and kind of capture that narrative and have an opportunity to save a legacy before it's gone forever. and if i can unspire some of these people -- inspire some of these people through this book to do that, that's been worth it all by itself. >> for more information on booktv's recent visit to salem, oregon, and the many other cities visited by our local content vehicles, go to c-span.org/localcontent. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2. here's our prime time lineup for tonight. at 7 p.m. eastern, joshua disiets describes president lincoln's secretaries. then at 8, learn the story of the subway system from doug most. at 9 p.m., annie jacobsen details operation paper clip. and at 10 p.m., "afte