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The story of CBS is never less than fascinating, but Paley's memoir, alas, tends to falter toward the end. Once he leaves the glory days of radio, the book becomes increasingly guarded and corporate in tone. " I don't think I am a very easy person to know," he admits in his preface, and then spends several hundred pages proving it, leaving his personal feelings, except his love for his late wife Babe, largely hidden. Renowned for his superb taste, he may have been hurt by it in this book. In the writing of memoirs, as in the production of shows, too much caution causes the audience to nod and think of other channels. —Gerald Clarke