An interesting, if chronologically jumpy, autobiography of a figure that had some influence on me as a wee tot. Not exactly enthralling but worth putting some effort into just for the historical information through the filter of one of the original news media figures from the first days of television. In fact I mostly read it so I could relate one of my prized memories of childhood. We watched NBC Nightly News as a family after dinner back then most nights, probably because locally channel 5 came in by far the clearest through the rooftop aerial. So, I'm about four at the time and I recognize a face and voice on the TV. I looked up to my mom and, with pride and excitement, said, "Hey mom! That's Henry Kissinger. Grandpa says he's a lying ¢@$#sucker!" That didn't go over very well and both of us got in big trouble.
There are some interesting anecdotes about pioneering TV broadcasts of news and how it differs greatly from reading teletypes on the radio. In retrospect there were simple solutions but it was hard to get the ball rolling. Some people just ignored the camera and continued on speaking to the assembled crowd and radio microphones as usual, whereas others came to realize that it was better to let the pictures speak for themselves and only interject requisite explanations. One of Brinkley's favorite praises that he received was that he was a great talker that didn't talk too much. ( )

4239 11 Presidents, 4 Wars, 22 Political Conventions, 1 Moon Landing, 3 Assassinations, 2,000 Weeks of News and Other Stuff on Television and 18 Years of Growing Up in North Carolina, by David Brinkley (read 29 Nov 2006) I read with much appreciation Brinkley's book Washington Goes to War on 21 Aug 1988 and found these memoirs, published in 1995, also of high interest, with laugh out loud items therein frequent. The book is anecdotal rather than narrative, but it does cover the whole of his interesting life up to 1995. He had a sardonic way about which I at times when I watched didn't appreciate, his comments being at times flip and non-serious, but this book was a joy to read, even though he could find nothing good to say about his mother. ( )