-- you're -- there's meaning in everything. >> host: roger, ohio, you're on booktv with author ben mezrich. >> caller: anyway, i hadn't herd of mr. mezrich, so i looked him up on the internet, so that gives me questions. >> guest: that's scarry. i don't know what you find on the internet. >> caller: there's one obvious one, it was either rigged or of the ugly american, maybe both was about a guy who used the stock markets to -- rigged the market to make a lot of money, and according to occupy wall street, that's what's going on now. it's the great recession that's all a result of the goldman sachs conspiracy. how much of that is true and is in your book? >> guest: i get so many pitches about evil conspiracy, wall street conspiracies. i mean, i get ten of those a week. i wish i found a really good one, but i have not found a true one yet. i write about people who gamed the system or figured out a way to make money from a corrupt system. that's what ugly americans is, rigged is like that, but bringing down the house in a lot of ways, there's a system in place, but there's a way to make money

mario in miami, good amp, you're on booktv with ben mezrich. >> yes -- [inaudible] to make a book, if that person gets paid when the book is -- [inaudible] >> right, great question. yeah, good question. i mean, a lot of people want to know, a lot of people who come to me to tell me their stories want money. [laughter] i have two types of people, people who want money, or people who don't want money, they just want their story told which is off more fun. but it depend on the situation. i'm not really trying to write biographies of people. um, i really want to write my books that are about true stories that happen, so it's a little bit different. i have in the past the main character from "bringing down the house," for instance, you know, it was my first nonfiction book, i gave him 10% of pretty much everything. and the movie was sort of separate. they can become consultants on the film, it depends on the movie situation. you know, some of the books they don't get anything. obviously, the facebook book, you know, they're all way richer than i'll ever be for the rest of my life. it's jus

." >> host: ben mezrich, where did you find the story of "the accidental billionaires"? >> guest: you know, that one actually came at random, a random e-mail, 2 in the morning. i was sitting at home, and it was a harvard stupid, and he said -- student, and he said my best friend founded facebook, and no one's ever heard of him. >> host: when was this? >> guest: wow, it had to have been -- it gets all mixed up because of "the social network" movie. i guess about two years before the movie came out, so 2008 or so? it was right before the movie "21" came out. the e-mail was right out of the blue, and my wife had forced me to be on face wook, so -- facebook, so i knew what it was. so i went out to work with this guy, and it was eduardo who andrew garfield play inside the movie, and he was angry. he was really angry. um, and a little drunk. and he wanted to tell me a story, and that's how i got into it. >> host: why did he send an e-mail to you? >> guest: well, i've become kind of the go-to guy for every college kid who does something ridiculous or crazy because of my books.

you are on booktv with ben mezrich. >> guest: >> caller: [inaudible] [inaudible] >> guest: good question a lot of people want to know -- a lot of people come a time in their stories my money. i had two types of people come and tell me stories. people who want money or people is so much money that they don't want money. they just want their stories told. which is often more fun. but it depends on the situation. i'm not really trying to write biographies of people. i really want to read my books that are about true stories that happen, but it's a little bit different. i have in the past the main character for bringing down the house. i gave him 10% of pretty much everything. the movie was separate. they can be consultants on the film. it all depends on into the situation. you know, some of the books don't get anything. obviously the facebook book are all way richer than i will ever be for the rest of my life. it's different for every situation. my goal is to write the story. the problem and you pay the characters as you can become beholden in a way. it's a weird partnership would you write