the point here is doctorow's attitude.ry to explore which is what he is done with all of his work. he has been asked if he has a reader in mind when he sits down to write and he has replied no, it's just a matter of language, of living in sentences. there is no room for a reader in your mind. you don't think of anything but the language you are in. well, edgar i have news for you. you may not have us in mind that you are in a roomful of your grateful readers. edgar. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> before coming here this evening, i thought to say something about what was lately on my mind and what is on all our minds whether we know it or not. something that has swept through our lives and taken us up in ways that are useful and even spectacular but also worrisome. and so ubiquitous and looming lee present in everything we do. the way we communicate and take care of ourselves and find things out and looked to be entertained. well, that would have to be the internet. so again i want to congratulate the shortlisted content provi

doctorow thanks for spending a few minutes with book tv. >> my pleasure. >> george packer is a finalist. >> can you spend a minute with us? >> i spent an hour with brian lamb. >> yes you did on a q&a program and we are covering you in miami as well. you will be live on booktv this weekend but you are one of the finalists in the nonfiction category. is this the first time you have been nominated? >> yes, it is. it's tremendous. it's an honor. the readings were last night and we all listened to each other from across the four categories and the quality was just incredibly high. everyone had three or four minutes. they didn't have much time to get across the field of your work but it was incredibly impressive and i felt honored to be in that company. >> which story did you tell? >> i read a passage in which one of the main characters dean price is thinking about the landscape of his home the piedmont region of north carolina and what has happened to it recently. he has a kind of -- he is sitting on his front porch at night with a glass of jack daniels and listening to the trucks go by. he