before that walter isakson what a wonderful treat that was a wonderful speaker i've seen he's a writer. of course we know he's a great writer but a wonderful conversational speaker before that, the launch of the new book about humboldt that was a very interesting event too. she was -- she was telling me -- us humboldt was a great traveler of how one of her tricks that was a little bit of one of mine too that she liked it to -- go wherever humboldt went so she got to go to some pretty exciting places so she showed a lot of pictures. what a wonderful treat it is to be here. what i thought i would do is fight i'm not gobbing to read to you in general but thought i would read a brief passage from the preface of my book and use that as a launching fad without reading so we'll do a thing right now, one of the most famous an a egg dotes john adams who never said anything about anybody else who didn't have a bite in it. not from the midwest if we take maryann robinson view on the characteristic about john. midwest, it is not jun john adams, and he said george washington is greatest political a

walter isakson on american life a wonderful biography. benjamin franklin comes there is a very contemporary man. we would relate to him easily based on the portrayal in this book. on balance, this is a great vision, lived a long life, had many episodes to that life as a political figure in pennsylvania, as a political figure on behalf of the colonies in europe, as a political figure with the declaration of independence. .. >> who was sort of the artist, and sort of the oppositions between this man, and this tyrant niro and how he tried to survive in that time period while being on the on the other hand a. >> senior adviser to nero and it was a very tricky business. a great piece of roman history. a very easy and great reading. so that's my summer reading for now and i hope to be back next year with an equal number of recommendations. >> book tv wants to know what you are reading this summer. post it on our facebook page, facebook.com/booktv. >> and now in book tv rinna -- rrveciÓn rena steinzor. >> everybody thank you for joining us. i'm

walter isakson on american life a wonderful biography. benjamin franklin comes there is a very contemporary man. we would relate to him easily based on the portrayal in this book. on balance, this is a great vision, lived a long life, had many episodes to that life as a political figure in pennsylvania, as a political figure on behalf of the colonies in europe, as a political figure with the declaration of independence. ..