we have great topics, cs lewis, devin brown, and you may remember he did token for us last year and he a very effective speaker. i hope you will all be back for it. check the website. we look forward to that. now you are going to go back and sign some books in the back so let's all share our appreciation. >> thank you. thank you, bill. >> weeknights this month, we're featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on c-span 3. tonight the society of the cincinnati founded in 1783 by continental army officers and their french countier parts. you will hear from t. cole jones. act 18th century prison camps and how the continental congress handled pows. american history tv this weekend and every weekend on c span 3. >> every saturday night, raise your hand if you heard of the gene harris murder before this class. >> the deepest cause was in the transformation that took place. >> we're going to talk act both sides of the story here, right? the tools and techniques of slave owner power and the tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslave

cs lewis. oh, looks like a period is missing after the s. anyway, cs lewis. you may recall devon brown did a talk about the tocqueville for us last year. i hope you will be back for that. check the website. to be sure. but we look forward to that. right now, it is on. we look forward to seeing you. now, you are going to go back and sign some books in the back, so before you do that, let's all show our appreciation for the wonderful -- [applause] claire: thank you. thank you, bill. announcer: you're watching american history tv, covering history c-span style with event coverage, eyewitness accounts, archival films, college lectures and visits to museums and historic places. all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. [chatter] >> c-span has round-the-clock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic and it is all available on-demand at c-span.org/coronavirus. briefings, house updates from governors and state officials, track the spread throughout the u.s. and the world with interactive maps watch on-demand anytime, unfiltered on c-span.org/coronavi

in an experiment in criticism, cs lewis argued to approach a literary work with nothing but desire for personal improvement is to use it rather than to receive it. while great books do offer important truths about life and character, lewis cautions against using books merely for lessons. literary works are after all works of our to be enjoyed for their own sake rather than merely use for our personal benefit. to use our literature instead of receiving it merely facilitates does not add to it. reading well adds to her life. not in the way of tool from the hardware store adds to her life or tool does us no good once lost or broken. but rather, in the way of friendship adds to our life altering us forever. so i wanted to read from the introduction to give you an idea of what i mean by reading well. what i do and the rest of the book which consists of 12 chapters as i examine one of the classical virtues in relationship or through the lens of a particular work of literature. i want to talk a little bit about virtue in general because it is something that we don't talk about a lot, we may n

in an experiment in criticism, cs lewis argues that to approach literary work, it's nothing but a desire for self-improvement is to use it rather than receive it. great books do offer important truths about life and character, lewis cautioned against using books merely for lessons. literary works are, after all, works of art to be enjoyed for their own sake, rather than merely used for personal benefit. s to use literature rather than receive it, it facilitates and does not add to our life. ". reading well adds to our life, not in the way from hardware store to of adds to our life, our tool does us no good once lost or broken but rather in the way of friendship adds to our life, altering us forever. i wanted to read from the introduction, give you an idea of what i mean by reading well and then what i do and the rest of the book, it's 12 chapters as i examine one of the classical virtues in relationship through the lens of a particular work of literature so i want to talk about virtue in general because it's something we don't talk about a lot, we may not even know what the virtues are o

reader with parents and good night moon and where the wild things are and then the coming-of-age and cs lewis so cradle to grave reading you could call it. >> do you want to read your passage? >> yes then we will open for questions. >> i will start with a line that i already used once people know you are writing the book 1000 books to read before you die you never get another dinner party the same way no matter how many pages you have written every conversation with a fellow readers almost sure to provide new titles to seek out or to expose the gap in your knowledge with those to underline the points of reference for years 1000 books felt like far too many to get my head around and now it is too few by several multiples why will say we should already be obvious this book is neither comprehensive or authoritative even if a good number of the titles would be on most list of essential reading it's meant to be an invitation to a conversation or an argument about the books that are missing as well asud those included because the question of what to read next is the best prelude to the more importa

good night moon and where the wild things are and go all the way through to the coming-of-age in cs lewis as a grief observed. it's a cradle to cradle reading. >> do you want to read your passion. >> i want to read a little bit from the introduction and will open it up to course under questions. >> i will start with the line i already used but it leads into other things once people know you're writing a book called "1,000 books to read before you die", you can never enjoy a dinner party in quite the way you did before. no matter how many books you managed to consider, no money how many pages you had written, everynv conversation was a fellw reader and sure to provide new titles to seek out or more worryingly to expose an egregious omission or gapping your knowledge, to say nothing revealing the privileges and prejudices however, unwitting underlying your point of reference. four years a thousand books felt like too many to get my head around. but now it seems to fuel by several multiples. so let me say what already obvious. this book is neither comprehensive nor authoritative, even if a g

night moon and where the wild things are, and go all the way through to "the coming of age," and cs lewis's -- cradle to grade reading you could call it. >> do you want to read your passage? >> james: i'm going to read a little bit from the introduction and then we'll open it up for questions. i'll start with a line i already used but it leads into other things. "once people know you're writing a book called "1,000 books to read before you die" you can never enjoy a dinner party in quite the way you did before. now matter how many books you've managed to consider, and how many pages you've written, every conversation with a fellow reader is almost sure to provide new titles to seek out, or more worryingly, to expose an egregious omission from a gap in your knowledge to say nothing in revealing the privileges and prejudices, underlying your points of reference. for years, a thousand books felt like far too many to get my head around. now it seems too few by several multiples. so let me say what already should be obvious. this book is neither comprehensive nor authoritative even if a good num

so i get 750 books in course of three or four months, only 4 on-which were mere christianity by cs lewis and then so i'm sitting in my apartment and jesus comes through the wall. i'm kidding. that did not happen. i just became aware that i was a person of faith. >> so you know are both religions. >> well, my jewish friends say, no. that's not allowed. and so -- but i feel more jewish than he ever did because now when i read "gentleman or exodus i think the covenant is real. so i feel more jewish than ever and yet the sermon on the mount is a glimpse at a celestial beauty that lingers and i can't unread matthew. >> so, why should somebody -- now that they've seen what you have written about and heard what you have written, why should they buy this snook what's a good reason to buy the book now that they heard about it? will the launch more buying the book than they just heard? >> it's a really good status item. [laughter] >> the book is partly about the first and second mountain but the second mountain is a life of commitment. and so there's -- it started as a class -- actually the book s

cs lewis once wrote that courage is not just one of the virtues, it is the form of every virtue at the. in this time of trial and testing for you, and for our nation, you have demonstrated courage. and you're an inspiration to every american. and america is being tested. while there are signs that we are making progress and slowing the spread, as we stand here today more than 700,000 americans have contracted the coronavirus and tragically more than 37,000 of our countrymen have lost their lives. but as each of you has shown in your time here, and as the american people always show in challenging times, when hardship comes, americans come together. we rise to the challenge. and the courage and compassion and generosity of the nation you will defend are shining through every day. you see it in the doctors and nurses on the frontlines. caring for the sick and the most vulnerable. you see it in first responders, from seattle to new york city, who have gone into harm's way and even after some became ill, went right back to work after they recovered. you see it in the farmers and the trucke