first, robert putnam has a unique take on the look of religion in society called " american graves." and that a conversation with nassim taleb. it is a look at what caused the global financial crisis. his book is called "the bed of procrustes." coming out right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> nationwide is on your side >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- tavis: robert putnam is the professor of public policy at harvard and he is also a best- selling author with books like "bowling alone." his latest is called "american grace." >

c-span: robert d. putnam, author of "bowling alone," what's the theory of your book? >> guest: well, my theory is that connecting with other people has great value for us personally and for our communities. i use the term social capital in the book to refer to the fact that social networks have value. they have value for the people who are in them. most people in america, for example, get their jobs through them. you know, i did--i did and most people do. i don't mean that in a nepotistic sense. i just mean we--we learn about jobs through--through social connections. and there are many other values to us personally from our social connections. there are positive effects on health from connecting with other people. but social connections also have value for people who are not directly in the networks. if you live in a neighborhood where people know one another, for example, as i do, that holds down the crime rate in the neighborhood, even for people who don't themselves go to the barbecues in the neighborhood; that is, the general effects of social capital, of social c