wrote it for harold bloom. he first called it the death of art and. reading well is one the greatest pleasures. i am dedicating to harold bloom. i am not a poet. i want to be rich. i have had a great sex life. i am not a poet. georgia i do not like being called an act visit. i cannot be considered a vegetarian. i will give my ass up and like it. i would be inspired. i may value peace, but will not use a pen to unleash my anger. i am not a poet. i am not dying. weight loss can still be a choice. i am not a poet. i don't care much for. i don't spend me weekends read anything writing. i like to have cocktails but i do not have a drinking problem regardless of what state i wake up in. i don't need drugs to open up my imagination. i am not a poet. i can tolerate half an hour of spoken word poetry. what my cats are up to. i always carry my business cards. i am not a poet, i only write to masture bait my mind. i am trying to convince myself that poetry it save lives. it's the dust of art. and i am going to close with to poet. americano. i look at myself in t

you know, the shylock problem is exactly what harold bloom was talking about. the idea that shylock is an anti-semitic character that is... what's interesting to me is that probably even the elizabethan novels would have had sympathy for shylock. and as odd as it sounds, the fact that shakespeare decided to have him convert to christianity was i'm sure by the elizabethan audience considered a generous thing. >> rose: doing him a favor? >> well, it was... that is to make him a christian so he can go to heaven. that was the thinking and i'm sure they would have cheereded that and thought we've really grown to like this guy, you know? regardless of the... of what he's done in the play and we admire his strength. >> rose: we admire him because of... >> because of the... >> rose: his on stogs... >> because of obsession. the deck is stacked, his money is stolen, his daughter is stolen, of course he would be murderous. >> rose: and he's suffered all these indignities. ben brantley reviewing this for the "new york times" says that portia is the moral lode star of this

[applause] >> for more on jonathan bloom and his work, visit the author's web site, wastedfood.com. >> haroldarmus is the author of the art and politics of science. welcome to the program and tello us, how did you come up with the title of this the book? >> i knew a book given a scientific title would not be attractive, and secondly as a scientist i know that science has artistic features, and it's strongly linked to politics. my own life has been engaged no only this science, but in the arts and in the politics of doing science. so what is interesting to most people about what i do is the way in which science is conducted and the way in whiche the political process influencec science. and those are topics that i'veth been engaged in and thought the public would enjoy readingi about. >> you went to ham herself as an english major, describe your transference to a scientist.r to >> it's a complicated thing, but i was originally intending tocae become a doctor. went to college, fell in love with literature, thought i'dnt t become a literature professor, started graduate school. became disenchanc