one of the things i learned from reading especially the dying writers like christopher hitchens who are writing about their own death, and even with my parents one of the things i realize that dying people want to tell us is to live. like, , live the best life you can. live it so you don't have any regrets at the end. >> do we, , to the living find that message? >> i think the living -- [inaudible] we want to put that in the back of her mind. we don't concentrate on our mortality because it's depressing but one of the things christopher hitchens writes in his book mortality is that he found at the end, can before, he's a living dying, the differences you are constantly where you have an expiration date. for most of us it's a possibility, it's something that life has. but for dying people they know that every single day is a gift. normally, ideally i think would be great if we all lived like that but it'ss also, it would be -- >> you can watch these programs in full online at booktv.org. for the complete list of this year's national book critics circle spineless in all six categories had

brian: christopher hitchens, who died in 2011, had cancer, his softball cancer, and all -- esophagealr, and all through that people kept saying, do you believe in god now, because he was an atheist. a year before he died -- >> a large number of people have asked me, doesn't it change your attitude to the infinite, the internal, the supernatural and so forth? i said i don't really see why it should. i spent a lot of my life deciding that there isn't any noemption, there's no, afterlife, no supervising boss, if i was to tell you now i have got a malignancy in my esophagus, that changes would hope the main effect had been on my iq. [laughter] kate: he was always so clever. brian: what about your attitude since you got the cancer at a very young age? have you changed your thinking on anything related to religion? kate: i mean, i think i have. myselfalways considered a pretty jesus-y type, but i think so much of it was wrapped up in the assuming that god was a part of this life. the second i got very sick, you come to the end of yourself. i admit, it was a really spiritually, is a really s

one of the things i learned, especially the dying writers like christopher hitchens writing about their own dead, these incidents with my parents, one thing i realized, tariff is to live. live the best life you can and don't have many regrets. >> host: do we the living find that message? >> guest: living itself is so busy, in the back of our minds, we don't want to concentrate on our mortality but one of the things christopher hitchens writes in his book mortality is at the end or before, living and dining and the difference between living and dying and living is you are constantly aware of an expiration date. the possibility is something life ahead but for dying people, they know every single day, normally it would be great if we all lived like that. >> you can watch these programs in full online at booktv.org and for the complete list of the national book critics circle finalists all six categories, head to bookcritics.org. >> you are watching booktv on

about it and nonetheless it's when science and religion again and if you read the account, christopher hitchens, the famous atheist who would write about how huxley dispatched him that he was saying that if you buy this and he put it in terms of a soul, you don't have to put it religiously, you can say do we have a special spark to do things others don't. if you are a conservationist hoping we don't have the edge of a petri dish. it was illusory because they are both saying that we are special. to say they are going to save our souls through conservation, the point of saving ourselves, we are claiming w they are specl and we are not in their point of view. i was shook up by this. what is the evidence that we are special. >> if my obituary said he was in overachieving mushroom, i would be okay with that. [laughter] lin died in 2011 so i didn't have the chance to argue this. what could i say that would be not just elicit the response you are saying we are special, it's going to help us survive. i can just hear that. she was pretty remorseless. so here is the best answer i could have given which i

christopher hitchens spoke with us in 2011 about his life and career less than a year after being diagnosedesophageal cancer. national institutes of health director francis collins talking about the genome project and how it is important to medical research. you can find these interviews online at the span.org. -- c-span.org. talking about growing up with survivalist parents in the mountains in her book "educated: a memoir." >> a lot of people have taken to heart this idea that to learn something you have to have a degree and an institution in place to teach it to you. i am grateful to my parents come up but i was not raised to think that. and i decided i wanted to go to college, it felt like something i could do. not because i have formal education but i need to learn algebra. i kept going with that. parents took it too far. i arrived at university really underprepared. ask what the holocaust was. people thought i was anti-semitic. >> watch afterwards, tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span two. >> monday, on c-span's landmark cases, we will look at the supreme cortez, mccullough versus ireland

christopher hitchens writes, and the difference between living and dying and just living is you're constantly aware you have an expiration date, for most of it's a possibility, something that lies ahead, but for dying people, it's -- they know that every single day is a gift, and normally ideally that's -- it would be great if we all lived like that but it would be stressful. . >> good morning. my name is nancy lieb and i am delighted to welcome you to the 11th annual savannah book festival-presented by georgia power, david and nancy cintro, the sheehan family and mark and pat sun. many thanks to jack and mary romano, our sponsors, for this glorious venue, the trinity united methodist church. i want to extend thanks to our members and donors who have continued to make saturday's free festival event possible. 90% of revenues come from donors just like you. thank you. we are very excited to have savannah book festival app this year for your phone. please look in your program for information on downloading it. it well be helpful. i i have a couple of 0 housekeeping notes, immediately following t

one of the things i learned, especially the dying writers like christopher hitchens writing about their own dead, these incidents with my parents, one thing i realized, tariff is to live. live the best life you can and don't have many regrets. >> host: do we the living find that message? >> guest: living itself is so busy, in the back of our minds, we don't want to concentrate on our mortality but one of the things christopher hitchens writes in his book mortality is at the end or before, living and dining and the difference between living and dying and living is you are constantly aware of an expiration date. the possibility is something life ahead but for dying people, they know every single day, normally it would be great if we all lived like that. >> you can watch these programs in full online at booktv.org and for the complete list of the national book critics circle finalists all six categories, head to bookcritics.org. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2, live coverage of the savanna book festival. scott shapiro is about to begin. his book, the internationalists, is about the p

don't want to concentrate on our mortality because it is depressing but one of the things christopher hitchensrites in his book is he was living by. it's that you have an expiration date, but it's a possibility and something that lies ahead but people know every single day is a gift and i think that it would be great if we all lived like that. >>> ..

us don't want to con tell place our mortality because it's depressing and one of the things christopher hitchenswrites, and the difference between living and dying and just living is you're constantly aware you have an expiration date, for most of it's a possibility, something that lies ahead, but for dying people, it's -- they know that every single day is a gift, and normally ideally that's -- it would be great if we all lived like that but it would be stressful. . >> good morning. my name is nancy lieb and i am

christopher hitchens, who spoke with the spec in 2011 about his career and life about being diagnosedhageal cancer. and discussing a book "the ."esidents club and francis collins talking about the genome project and how it is important to medical research. you can find these online at c-span.org. our livelook at coverage today on c-span. the house is back at noon for general speeches, legislative business at 2:00. and, a bill to help trauma centers and another that would allow indian tribes to develop their own amber alert system for child recovery. and in the senate is back for the annual reading of george washington's farewell address and then senators consider the nomination of elizabeth branch to be u.s. circuit judge for the 11th circuit with a procedural vote set to follow at 5:30. in a look at budgets. in the day, deputy attorney general rudd rosenstein talks about priorities for federal law enforcement. round table. body >> coming up on today's talkingon journal, about today's supreme court oral argument the challenges whether unions can collect

why don't we have someone like brian lamb, your founder, who had people like christopher hitchens, and called these people on their insanity. that is our gun problem today. why are delusional people owning guns? somebody talking to an imaginary guy in the sky -- i do not believe he should be near a gun and these, people trying to claim to know more than a man could know -- i do not believe these christians, i am suspect of them. if we do not continue to call them on their insanity, we will continue to witness atrocities. host: j, indiana. good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for c-span and taking my call. i would also like to remind the wasers that reverend graham a pretty shrewd political operator and a manipulator. as i recall, in the 1960 election between nixon and kennedy, he attempted to weigh away from kennedy and toward nixon. and this is at a time when the public was concerned about the pope actually being elected through kennedy, but i do not recall that anybody worried about reverend graham being elected and having influence in american politics, as much as they worr

but one of the things that christopher hitchens writes in his book mortality was that he found it at the