LARRY KING

For late-night-radio addicts only: a chaotic, not-very-likable patch-up of anecdotes and reminiscences by the host of the mutual Broadcasting's Larry King Show. King starts off with ""The Fall"": his early-1970s bad times in Miami, when he lost his radio show, his wife (one of several along the way), and his self-esteem--thanks to compulsive horsetrack gambling and finaglings with money that led to a charge of grand larceny (brought by a once-friendly millionaire to whom King lied once too often). Next there's the King comeback in 1975, after smalltime sports broadcasting in Louisiana--quickly followed by ""The Larry King Show"": anecdotes about famous guests on the show (lovable Danny Kaye, ""difficult"" Bob Hope, Milton Berle); bits about the people who call-in, from nice folks to crazies (the Portland Laugher, the Miami Derelict); musings on the most popular call-in subjects (sports above all); a defense of the no-preparation King approach to interviewing (he learns along with his listeners); plus ""my opinions of some of my colleagues"" and (most trivially of all) the problem of getting taken for both writer Larry L. King and Billie Jean King's husband Larry. Then: back to Brooklyn childhood as Larry Zeiger--with mild high-school hijinks (together with best-friend, future ""zillionaire"" Herb Cohen) and a glimpse of the young Sandy Koufax, ""on the floor peeing in his pants"" over one of the Larry/Herb comedy acts. And finally: King's early years in Miami radio--as a d.j. (one very funny anecdote here) and as a freewheeling interviewer who attracted such talkers as Lenny Bruce and even Frank Sinatra (""what I did with Sinatra was create trust""). In an afterword, King tries for a little thoughtfulness--but a Donahue he's not. So this is strictly for his many radio-show fans--and whether or not it's a bestseller will depend entirely on whether or not the vast late-night call-in crowd reads (or buys) books.