[inaudible conversations] >> book tv recently capitol hill to ask members of congress what they're reading this summer. >> well, a funny thing happen on my way of having time to read this summer. speaker ryan asked me to cochair the platform committee of rnc so some of the time i had planned to spend read asking now going to be consumed by reading the republican platform but for fun i am going to go back a finish a book i started called seven miracles that saved america. why they mattered and why we should have hope by chris stewart and his son ted. he's a fellow member here from utah and then i want to finish a book i've had on my shelf for a long time, how the west won, the neglected story of the triumph

of modernity by rodney stark. i'm hope to go at least get through those books this summer and maybe some books about my districts like the history of yadkin county that i was just given. >> book tv wants to know what you're reading this summer. tweet us your answer at book tv or you can post it on our facebook page. facebook.com/booktv. >> i'm very excited about one called the word detective by john simpson which is a memoir by the former editor in chief of the english dictionary who has been there for about 40 years until retirement in 2013 and in that time oversaw really a complete transformation of dictionaries or complete transformation. anyone who has read the professor and the madman, you can remember the descriptions of

what it was like to assemble a dictionary in the 19th century and it was pretty much like that in the mid-70's as well. readers all over the world that would submit indices and those usages, whenever the dictionary was revised would make it in the next round so it took an incredibly long time to add new meanings, all it's online and instead of readers all over the world, you have crowd surfing. it's lead to massive language and really interesting way. also led the oed to have to go back and relearn whole words that with all of the newspapers online now you can discover usages that no one had ever possibly heard of on the last time the dictionary was revised so it really is an extraordinary

revolution in language. but along the way, he introduces to all the fascinating history of words. my favorite is sarandipity, based on a story he had read. sarandip is historic name for sli --sri lanka. i didn't know that the word gonsha had been produced by the duke of wellington. so i think it's the perfect book for word nerds and madman, between you and me by norris, anybody interested in books, anybody, it's an interesting

book. one of the greatest things about the memoir is description. he wasn't from that class or that world and realizing the extent to which the dictionary had been shaped by upper middle class readers but are people who don't necessarily spend a lot of time working. the dictionary had been shaped by detective novel but it was very male and very excite and very british.

>> >> it really depends on the kind of book for fiction did is important and other types as well. i don't blanket is essential with history and politics if it is driven by npr or radio but we have seen towards

smaller and smaller factors in the way we publish and promote books like the social media or people can enter into people's homes with book clubs but through programs i know nothing about. [laughter] so the physical traveling of an author from town to town is less important -- less important and used to be specific and have a book on the history of the caliphate which i think is the book that is particularly important right now the word caliphate isn't though word we have spent a lot of time talking about now first cockeyed analyzes to talk about restoring that caliphate. kennedy is an expert he has

written a number of books and this is his effort to establish the caliphate both as a was with the history of the idea. for obvious reasonsit holds such a p. enormous appeal for so many young muslims particularly because it was the time when its long ruled of world baghdad had 1 million people biz was the muslim world at the height of its power but what he is trying to show this is the caliphate is showing there is no one caliphate. when it was the worship of god but it is much more

complicated. , with spiritual been identified and dutch justification, so that is a necessary corrective that is a pure and better time. bob but a law professor criminologist and the statistician is why we struggle so much with mass incarceration and what you think is wrong. if not about the war on drugs or private prisons budget the criminal-justice system which allotted people have not acknowledged as a major factor in the united states. and shows that the times that the crime rate is

dropping there is the surgeon in number of prosecutors working for the u.s. government and then to start to see the incredible surge of the prosecutorial of much huang your sentences that the much higher level. and that is the crucial factor. not necessarilythe that what people think of is conventional where we are where we are. republish only serious nonfiction buys serious authors of 90% are academics , a handful of journalists and statesman and politicians. pretty intellectually high-end. >> host: where are you located? is a part of a larger corporation?

>> intel to do once ago. >> host: how does that affect what you do? >> guest: not much. if they were publishing a lot of fiction that is a good counterbalance. best to take the whole group to move over. is minimal a traumatic. >> host: the publisher of basic books book tb on c-span2.

and. >> the biggest embezzlement scandal have never heard of. blanc and a little thought on the map. dixon was most were famous that the town had a three full-time employees the majority were part-time to keep their financial heads above water and he add a cadillac show room. and appointed to this city financial post. pace we deal and one of the best quarter horse breeders

in the country. into have that motorhome in generally on called wanda and was still available for work by e-mail everyday. and they figure that is where money went to others

has seen she inherited money from somewhere despite the fact knocker parents were local people. said she would transfer the

money from the legitimate bank account into the dummy account any audit at all would have uncovered the scheme but why would they? she worked for the town all these years. she would write nearly 200 invoices for road repairs then to the city account that were made out directly to treasurer. even some were made out to facilities. nobody was watching or noticing. back after opening the account opening to fairly large amounts and over the course of the years, as set down, she's dolby -- cheese

stole $53 million write-down of the pockets of her friends and neighbors live laugh this city could not afford the most basic updates. to the police cars had use radios streets needed repairs with a water treatment facility. bob when the secretary found the account she was poured. she brought it to the attention to the mayor and then he called the fbi then six minutes later she was called into the office where the fbi was waiting. did she confessed she was caught red handed. but she felice cooperated.

and when asked his thoughts it turns out that she did not give a t12 about this town. [laughter] spee5. >> >> please turn off or silence your cellphone