. >> in an appetite for wonder you talk about john maynard smith. who was he? >> he was a very distinguished biologist, a wonderful character. students loved him. he was funny, constantly talking to students can felt real work and didn't do things other professors to. he just went on with it and the tools of the trade for a pencil and paper and he inspired generations of students and he inspired me. many of his ideas were incorporated into the selfish gene. >> after the selfish gene is published how did your life change as a professor? did you become a celebrity professor in a sense? >> not immediately. it's the book itself very well and i think it sells well as for a million copies in total. it did cause a bit of -- i did find myself being invited to lots of things i hadn't been before, talking to people like you, actually. that did start to happen and it did change my life and put me on the new course of writing off the other books after that. >> you are quite well known not only as a scientist but also as an atheist. when did you start writing about that in

and he was the leading opponent and critic of john maynard keynes the founder of keynesian economics and his basic take words is a government is because of business cycles and the inflation recession so a boom bust cycle not not not not a preventer of it i had the opportunity when i was in my early admits twenties to spend a good part of two summers in his in his company and i can i can say that he was one of the most informed intelligent and personable individuals i've ever met with an immense understanding of both the politics and the economics of things and a great depth to solve deprecating humor that made him very personable i highly recommend. that any viewer who is interested in these ideas to look at his works is most popular and famous one of course is a book called the road to serfdom the dangers of government encroaching upon our liberties through controls and regulations leading to the loss of freedom and a rich unified economy but he has some popular works on explaining how governments cause inflation is in depressions and these are often the keys to understanding our ow

. >> host: you also talk about john maynard? who was the? >> guest: very wonderful man a wonderful character and constantly talking to students about real work. he did not do or where it was coming from. he would just get on with that. so to inspire generations of students so many of his ideas play a big role in the "the selfish gene." >> host: after "the selfish gene" was published, how did your life changed as a professor? real a celebrity professor in the sense? >> guest: not immediately. so it did cause is a bit and i was finding myself being invited to see his son was not before. [laughter] but that did start to happen and that set me on a new course of right tea and other books after that. >> host: you are known not only as a scientist also has a neediest. when did you start writing about that? >> guest: "the selfish gene" has information on that i suppose all my books also what i wrote for the popular audience, all about the argument of design which is the dominant reason why people believe in the supreme being and with the flowers an

maynard hutchins together, the president of the university. and it was the history--the i--great ideas in the western world. they thought that--hutchins had a theory that, i think, started at st. john's college in annapolis, that if you learned the great ideas of the western world, that that would be your education. and so this course started with plato and aristotle, then worked all the way up to st. tho--through st. thomas aquinas and to freud and marx. and they drilled you; there was a socratic method, and you had to kind of stand up for yourself and defend your ideas to them. and it was very rigorous training, and i really liked it, but it was very hard. c-span: who became your favorite philosopher out of that? anybody? >> guest: i think i liked the greeks. i liked aristotle and plato talking about happiness and the ends of life and what you thought about. i was really interested in that. c-span: after college, what? >> guest: well, i had proudly gone off and gotten myself a job at the university of chicago. i mean, i'd use my--my law prof--my labor relations professor, paul douglas, who later became a senator, knew the publisher of the then chicago times, the afternoon tabloid.