richard dawkins is just being introduced in chapman hall. we will bring this to you live and a reminder that this whole program everything you have seen today will re-air tonight at midnight eastern time and we will be back again live tomorrow. >> american airlines and many other generous sponsors. we would also like to acknowledge the friends of the book fair and we see many of them here today. please join me in thanking them for their generosity. [applause] towards the end of the session we will have a q&a opportunity with a microphone in the center of the aisle. the authors will also be autographing books in the area near where you lined up prior to entering towards the right of the elevator. at this time i invite you to please silence or cell phones and of course enjoy the program. i would like to introduce dr. eldridge birmingham was the chief science officer of the freston museum of science. he will introduce our authors. [applause] >> at great to be here. i even got a book autographed of a young looking richard dawkins here. as you we

richard dawkins is just being introduced in chapman hall. we will bring this to you live and a reminder that this whole program everything you have seen today will re-air tonight at midnight eastern time and we will be back again live rrow would also like to acknowledge the friends of the book fair ge. we would also like to acknowledge the friends of the book fair and we see many of them here today. please join me in thanking them for their generosity. [applause] towards the end of the session we will have a q&a opportunity with a microphone in the center of the aisle. the authors will also be autographing books in the area near where you lined up prior to entering towards the right of the elevator. at this time i invite you to please silence or cell phones and of course enjoy the program. i would like to introduce dr. eldridge birmingham was the chief science officer of the freston museum of science. he will introduce our authors. [applause] >> at great to be here. i even got a book autographed of a young looking richard dawkins here. as yo

for the atheist they chose richard dawkins -- [laughter] sir richard dawkins, the atheist biologist, he put on the helmet, and then a nun put on the helmet. and they asked, did this change your religious belief? and richard dawkins says, no, he's still an atheist. and they asked the nun, does this change your belief? the fact you can induce religious feeling? and she said, no. you see, god created us with a telephone, a telephone in our brain so that we can communicate with god. so the scientists were unable to change anyone's religious beliefs. some days you can't win. [laughter] and then the question is, what about super genius? what about people who are off scale, have fantastic photographic memory, artistic and mathematical abilities? it turns out that there was a boy who had a bullet go through the left temporal lobe. there was a man who dove into a swimming pool, hit the left side of his head on the bottom of the pool, and afterwards both of them became super mathematical geniuses. this has now been documented. acquired savant behavior. now tonight after today's talk, do not pi

you quoted richard dawkins as saying only that religious faith could motivate such, but i would like to hear your definition because i think it is different from what most people think. >> the scholars that specialize in the study of terrorism say that but it's hopelessly lost in the confusion. you could say that it involves the killing of innocent people by a group but so does ordinary warfare and that is true the state has been by far the biggest killer of civilians far more than any individual group of terrorists. that has been exponentially increasing in the last century. in world war i only 5% of the people who died. the casualties in world war ii were deliberately targeted by the allied scientists who created special bonds and would have in disasters affect and what draw upon german and japanese cities precisely to tear to raise the population and a drop on the residential areas of civilians. now 90% of the people are dying in the current war and have been civilians. so you can't say that it's just about the killing of civilians therefore and the also incest that whatever reaso

you quote richard dawkins, the famous atheist is saying the only religious faith could motivate such madness as terrorism but i would like to hear your definition of terrorism because i think it's different from what most people think. >> terrorism like religion is a word that is notoriously difficult to define, so much so that those scholars who specialize in the study of terrorism say is that is hopelessly lost in semantic confusion. you could say it involves the killing of innocent people by a group but just ordinary warfare. the state has been by far the biggest killer of civilians, far more than any individual group of terrorists. that has been exponentially increasing in the last century. in world war i only 5% of the people who died were civilians. in the second world war those figures shot up to 66.5% of the casualties of world war ii were civilians. they were deliberately targeted by allied scientist who created special bombs that would have an effect, a disastrous effects that were dropped on german and japanese cities precisely to terrorize the population and dropped on re

some of the office you will hear from and talk to today include cornell west, richard dawkins, normanof the guards at the benghazi complex. full schedule of coverage is beyond the schedule on booktv.org, the c-span bus is down here, we are passing out book bags as well. if you are in the area come on down. joining us now on our outdoor and windy sets, the founder of the miami book fair, mr. kaplan, the wind is here, nice and warm. >> will be a beautiful day. i spoke to the weather guys, the sun is going to break, come through the clouds and we have another great clear day. i also want to thank you for coming. hard to believe it has been 17 years. seems like the blink. your support of what we'd do has been immeasurably important to the growth of the book fair as well. >> we are covering 25 authors broadcasting 20 hours this is a small part of the miami book fair. >> we have 600 authors, 300 exhibitors, we run through a full week, sunday through sunday and we have a quarter of a million people that come through, not to mention during the week we provide authors schools, we bring schools

this amp you'll hear from cornel west, richard dawkins. full schedule available at booktv.org. by the way, you can also follow us on twitter and facebook to get schedule updates to get behind the scenes pictures as well. @booktv, facebook.com/booktv. well, coming up in just a minute, a call-in program with john dean, you saw him in the room with rick perlstein, and after that a call-in with political activist norman lear. cornel west will be another call-in guest, this is the only place on the dial where you get to talk to authors on a regular basis. well, earlier in the day from our outdoor set here at miami-dade college we talked with mitch kaplan who is the founder of the miami book fair. here on our outdoor and windy set is the founder of the miami book fair, mitch kaplan. mr. kaplan, what's with the wind this year?ok it's nice and warm, but -- >> guest: it's going to be a beautiful day. i spoke to the weather gods,e they assure me that the sun's going to break, come through th clouds, and we'll have enough great day. and i also want to personally thank you forha coming. it