. >> and is that the kinda sorta visual drama that, at least in this instance, works better in a visual medium than it does people reading it? >> no, the book was great. (laugh) >> (laugh) but you've said that the series will be even better. >> the joke or the old saw in hollywood or around the world is "a book is always better than the movie." and then the screenwriters will go, "well, we only had two hours in the movie, and the book was much longer." in this case in terms of it-- of a tv series, they have 13 hours. so, there's no excuse >> for all of your accomplishments, all the records that you've broken in terms of publishing and bestseller lists you've described yourself as an entertainer. how come? >> i think that's what i do. i mean i-- early on as a writer realized that-- you know having read ulysses a couple a times that i could not be james joyce, i could not be gabriel garcía márquez. i didn't quite have that talent level. but i did think and i started out as a little literary snob but i read a couple of bestsellers back then. one was day of the jackal and one was the exorci