press conference and rather quickly, so we have a -- [inaudible] here that's going to walk for them x. if you could help clear the aisle and let them get through, that'd be much appreciated. >> thank you. [applause] thank you. [inaudible conversations] [applause] >> booktv is on twitter and faction, and we want -- and facebook. and we want to hear from you. tweet us, twitter.com/booktv or post a comment on our facebook page,

facebook.com/booktv. >> i first met sally ride in 1981 when, as a correspondent for abc news, i was invited to join the team covering the then-upcoming space shuttle program. the first shuttle flew in april of '81. so in january of '81, i joined our group going down to the johnson space center in houston to start preparing the stories ahead of time. and we had a great team. i'm sure you will remember many of them. the anchorman was frank reynolds, the abc anchorman who knew, who was extremely knowledgeable about space. our space correspondent was jules bergman who, essentially, who had sort of half invented the field of science journalism and was brilliant at what he did. i was brought in to be what i now describe, it's like in the baseball booth, i was the color guy, right? i was supposed to do the feature stories and all that. because of a variety of

incidents, i wound up anchoring and becoming the lead space reporter and anchoring almost all the shuttle liftoffs and landings for the first five years, and it was truly a great experience. so when i first got to that is saw, i was assigned, my first assignment was to do a story on this new breed of astronaut, the women and the minorities, the nonpilots. and sally was one of the first people that nasa offered me to interview, and the two of us just hit it off immediately. i liked her direct manner, i liked her determination, and i liked the fact that she didn't give me canned answers, that is to say something she thought i wanted to hear. so, for instance, i asked her this that first interview why do you want to go into space, and she said to me, i don't know. she said, i've discovered that half the people would love to go to space and there's no need to explain it to them. the other half couldn't understand it, and i couldn't explain it to them. and that was all she had to to say about that. [laughter] in a from they werety of uptight

crew cuts, she was a breath of fresh feminism, acknowledging unequivocally that the women's movement had made her situation possible, that nasa with its 20-year heritage of white male fighter pilots was finally doing the right thing, and we became friends instantly. as the program developed and i wound up anchoring abc's corpsage, i colded -- coverage, i continued to spend time with sally. she married a fellow astronaut. their home became my pizza and beer hangout during other people's missions. sally, of course, got her chance five years later. she was the first of the six women chosen to fly, an amazing story all by itself. and she became our newest american hero. as smart and funny and daring optimist who trained endlessly and answered questions tirelessly. the public attention, though, as i say, was both flattering and a little bit frustrating to her.

and it still reflects the way that women were viewed as a novelty in this previously men-only club. it culminated in the question i would nominate as being the dumb press question ever asked at a press conference anywhere at any time. i have been to a lot of press conferences. [laughter] this was, let's see, it was may of 1983, the month before sally flew. sally's up in the front of the room, a room about a third the size of this town at the johnson space center up on the dais with her entire crew, sally and the four guys. and a reporter from "time" magazine raised his happened, and he said, dr. ride, you've been training for a year, and i know it's very intention, and i'm curious, when you make a mistake, when something goes wrong, how do you respond? do you weep? [laughter] yeah, that's kind of the way most of the room treated it. sally, i would have, of course, clawed the guys eyes out the

minute he said it -- [laughter] and this is why sally was definitely the right person to have selected. he took it all in stride. -- she took it all in stride. this exists on videotape, you can see this. she kind of rolls her eyes, she has one of those, oh, my god, is this guy serious looks on her face, and then she smiles, and she turns to rick houk who was the pilot of her mission sitting next to her, and she says pleasantly, why doesn't anyone ever ask are rick these questions? [laughter] it was so brilliant. she sort of defused the bomb ip standpointly. it was absolutely great. >> you can watch this and and other programs online at booktv.org. each month "the new york times" compiles a bestsellers' list based on specific categories and here's a look at the current top ten best-selling science books.

>> that's a look at this month's list of nonfiction science bestsellers according to "the new york times." >> you're watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >> here are some programs to watch on booktv this weekend. on "after words," ken silverstein looks at corruption in the international oil industry. new york senator kirsten gillibrand talks about her life this politics and encourages women to make a difference in the world. retired general tony zini talks about isis and the use of american force, and a debate on foreign policy featuring dinesh d'souza, operation iraqi freedom veterans discussing the current state of iraq, author interviews from ucla and much more.

for more information, visit us on line at booktv.org. >> he's some of the latest -- here's some of the latest news about the publishing industry. author and journalist charles boden died on august 30th. his writing focused on the drug wars in mexico and immigration in the southwest. he made swivel appearances on booktv including our three-hour author interview program "in depth" which you can watch anytime on line at booktv.org. barnes & noble reported that their first quarter revenues decreased to $1.24 billion, that's down 7% compared to the previous year. "forbes" noted that the nation's top bookseller lost less money than was expected which may have contributed to the jump in the barnes & noble share price following the release of those first quarter results. science fiction and fantasy writing ursula kayla guinn will receive the medal for distinguished contribution to

american letters at this year's national book awards on november 19th. she has written over 50 books for both children and adults. author neil gamen will present her with the award. stay up-to-date on breaking news with the publishing world by liking us on facebook at facebook.com/booktv or follow us on twitter @booktv. you can also visit our web site, booktv.org, and click on nudes about books -- news about books. >> this is booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. here's our prime time lineup. tonight at 7 p.m. eastern, peniel joseph talks about stokely: a life, and he sits down with representative james clyburn to discuss civil rights. at 8:45, retired general itemny zini talks about isis and the use of american force. on "after words," ken silverstein on corruption in the international oil industry, and

our prime time programming continues at 11 p.m. with new york senator kirsten jill brand. she talks about her life in politics and encourages women to make a difference in the world. that all happens tonight on c-span2's booktv. >> so we met with them, and then we started inviting every columnist who was a conservative to come up and meet richard nixon, have an interview with him and give them time. so we kept building this alicense with richard nixon and the conservative movement. the center of the republican party and the conservative wig of the republican party -- wing of the republican party. then nixon, his own idea, went out on his own in 1966 and campaigned in 35 states, 80 congressional districts. every single republican who asked for him, he went in all 11 southern states, all over the country working for the republican party. and it was a move that, i said

it in my book, it was in nixon's interest to do this, but it was also consistent with what he believed. nixon was a fighter. his party was in trouble, and he loved his party, he was low corral to it -- loyal to it, so he went out. we're going to fight within every district we can. i traveled with him that whole time, and it was, i mean, he was a spartan. i mean, i've never seen anybody work harder than that. there was occasional incidents like let me tell you one. mr. nixon had some trouble with the rockefellers. let me tell you one story from the campaign of '66. we were in fort smith, arkansas, and nixon got up, and he had a press conference and did an event for john paul hammer schmidt who eventually was the one guy who beat bill clinton for congress, or bill clinton -- yeah, i think, no, was it his first race? yeah, i think he beat bill

clinton. but anyhow, we're in fort smith, and nixon goes to the motel, and it's a rectangular thing. it's on the inside, but it's only one story. and so nixon's got this room here, and he says i do not want to be disturbed, i've got to nap. i've got a big speech tonight, i don't want anybody to disturb me. i said, you got it, and i went down and mosesed around my own room. i saw this huge fellow marching straight across the quadrangle of this motel straight toward nixon's door. and he was yelling, hey, dick! hey, dick! to mr. nixon, you know, who's sleeping. so i started running, and i didn't get there in time. and this guy is pounding on the door, and the door opens and richard nixon let him in. i thought, that's the end of pat buchanan. [laughter] and nixon says, pat, have you met wynn rockefeller? this was winthrop rockefeller, the brother of nelson and david rockef