Give a listen to "This Just In"

Bob Schieffer's reading
brings memoir to life

If you watch TV news at all, you've probably seen Bob Schieffer more than you realize. He's been a fixture at CBS for so long, and in so many roles, that many of us take him for granted.

I just finished "reading" Schieffer's memoir, "This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV," and I have a new-found appreciation for the veteran journalist.

"Reading" is in quotes, because I really listened to the recorded book. Schieffer read his book to me, through the miracle of audio CDs and the iPod.

Can you get any more personal than that? Having an author read a book to you? Not since my days of storyhour at Miles Park Library have I had so much fun listening!

(Recently I've also had the pleasure of sitting down with Thomas Harris as he read "Hannibal Rising" to me. The book might not have been well received by critics and readers, but as a listener I was enthralled.)

Schieffer's book presents a glimpse into a reporter's notebooks, covering news from the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, with lots of funny stuff and insider information thrown in for good measure. I particularly enjoyed Schieffer's recollection of eating Argentinean steaks in Buenos Aires while covering the Falklands "war," and sharing the dinner table with Jimmy Carter in a double-wide barbeque trailer in Plains, Ga.

And the best part is it was all free! I got Schieffer’s audiobook from the public library, which remains the greatest invention in the history of civilization!