IU grad Tavis Smiley tells what he 'knows for sure' in his memoir

Tavis Smiley has accomplished a lot by the age of 40, and a good number of his accomplishments were achieved by the help of people at IU. After high school, Smiley showed up in Bloomington with a letter of acceptance but nothing else. No money. No financial aid. Nowhere to live.\nAnd the best part is that a good 20 percent of the book is about his experiences here at IU, including the names of professors we have access to -- people who helped inspire his greatness.\nSmiley is the host of "Tavis Smiley" on PBS and "The Tavis Smiley Show" from Public Radio International. He has also been a commentator and host on Black Entertainment Television and numerous other stations. Smiley has interviewed many of the world's leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, and was granted the first one-on-one interview with Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.\n"What I Know for Sure," Smiley's most recent book, is a memoir of sorts, told to David Ritz, who has written biographies of numerous famous people, including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles. Smiley insists he is still too young to be able to write a comprehensive story of his life, but his story is nevertheless full of inspiring stories -- although a few of them are a bit too perfect. His memory of conversations is incredible. So incredible, in fact, that it's more likely that the conversations are told as he wishes they had happened, not as they actually did.\nThis is not to take away from his story, but there are weaknesses in the manner in which it is told. Smiley is a man whose focus is accomplishing great things by being the best man he can be, but the flaws that appear in the storytelling detract from those stories. I would prefer not to notice the technical aspects of the writing. Instead, I want to be wowed and inspired by the story. But that is hard to do when almost every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger, something I expect from sweeps week on CSI, not from a pseudo-memoir.\nWhen Smiley mentions mistakes and poor choices he has made in his life, he tells of them from a hero's point of view. And when others make mistakes, he tells them from a hero's point of view. Once again, my focus moves away from the story and I worry about what else he might be manipulating.\nRead the book as an introduction to the man, but watch and listen to his interviews to understand how good he is at what he does.