You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed,

for you are the only animal,

who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Hi, this is Mike Silverblatt and this is Bookworm.

This is a rare occasion.

I've identified myself as Mike Silverblanc.

God knows why.

I'm here in the studio today with Julian Barnes,

author of a history of the world in ten and a half chapters,

his newest book, recently published by Knapp. His earlier books include

Staring at the Sea, Flobert's Parrott. Those are the ones I think he's most famous for in America.

And before she met me, and Metroland, a satirical novel sort of following from in the footsteps of Evelyn Waugh.

A history of the world in ten and a half chapters has a happy relation to our theme song.

That is that this is a show that opens with a song sung by a cricket.

A history of the world in ten and a half chapters is a book whose first

chapter is narrated by a woodworm. This woodworm is a stowaway on Noah's Ark. His depredations

make repeated appearances throughout the history of the world as they go on.

What suggested this novel to you? Where did it begin?

I think books are a bit like teeth. When you pull them out, you sometimes find there's

only one root, and you sometimes find that they're great fat molars and they've got about three or four roots.

This is very much a three or four root tooth book.

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