Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and
focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry.
The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more
information, go to Book TV's Web site.
Saturday, December 9
6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a segment first aired in 2003, New York University English professor Kenneth Silverman conveys aspects of his book Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F.B. Morse (Da Capo, $20, 0306813947). Silverman portrays the inventor of the telegraph as an easily depressed man who dabbled in inventing and whose first love was painting.
8 p.m. General Assignment. In an event hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Michael Crichton, whose new thriller is Next (HarperCollins, $27.95, 0060872985), discussed recent leaps in the study of genetics.
9 p.m. After Words. Peter Singer, who directs a project on 21st century warfare for the Brookings Institution, interviews Larry Kahaner, former Washington correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine and former reporter for Knight-Ridder newspapers, about his new book, AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War (Wiley, $25.95, 0471726419). In the book, Kahaner traces the versatile, durable rifle's role in wars around the world since its invention in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s. According to the author, no tool has spread so much raw power to so many people in so little time in the history of warfare. (Re-airs Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)
Saturday, December 9
6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a segment first aired in 2003, New York University English professor Kenneth Silverman conveys aspects of his book Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F.B. Morse (Da Capo, $20, 0306813947). Silverman portrays the inventor of the telegraph as an easily depressed man who dabbled in inventing and whose first love was painting.
8 p.m. General Assignment. In an event hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Michael Crichton, whose new thriller is Next (HarperCollins, $27.95, 0060872985), discussed recent leaps in the study of genetics.
9 p.m. After Words. Peter Singer, who directs a project on 21st century warfare for the Brookings Institution, interviews Larry Kahaner, former Washington correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine and former reporter for Knight-Ridder newspapers, about his new book, AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War (Wiley, $25.95, 0471726419). In the book, Kahaner traces the versatile, durable rifle's role in wars around the world since its invention in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s. According to the author, no tool has spread so much raw power to so many people in so little time in the history of warfare. (Re-airs Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)