READING L.A.

Tom Hatten, entertainment reporter:

“The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Days of Television,” by Jon Krampner (Rutgers University Press).

“This is the first extensive account I’ve seen about one of the true pioneers of television, the man Krampner rightly calls ‘the greatest producer of the early days of New York television.’ ”

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John Landis, film director:

“Inventing Mark Twain,” by Andrew Hoffman (Morrow).

“I read everything by and about Mark Twain voraciously. Despite the author’s tendency to project his own agenda onto his subject, Twain’s life and work is so fascinating and rewarding, I enjoyed this book.”

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Rachel Reilich, student, L.A. County High School of the Arts:

“The Shipping News” by Annie Proulx (Macmillan).

“This 300-page book took me more time to read than ‘Gone With the Wind,’ not because it was tedious by any means, but because the lines were so lyrical that I found myself reading them over and over.”

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David Whitley, archeologist:

“Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain,” by Antonio R. Damasio (Putnam).

“There has been a revolution in our understanding of the human brain and consciousness. By disproving Descartes’ notion that the body is split from the mind, Damasio changes our perspective on behavior.”