READING L.A.

Brian Muirhead, project manager, Mars Pathfinder:

“Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer (Villard).

“I just came from a meeting in which we decided to send the rover on a particularly risky maneuver. Exploring Mars is a little like climbing Everest for the first time.”

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Edna Morales, elementary school principal:

“The Memories of Ana Calderon” by Graciela Limon (Arte Publico Press).

“Limon has written a wonderful novel about Los Angeles. She skillfully weaves local knowledge of this city together with cultural issues to create a powerful story of a Latina, disowned by her father, struggling to make something out of her life in spite of him.”

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Michele Parker, actress:

“Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams” by Lyle Leverich (Norton).

“This book is a mesmerizing look into Williams’ life and art. I now see how the honest, real and raw emotions that he grappled with each day were the source of his works. Aren’t we lucky to have been left with so much of his life in the form of his art?”

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Freddy DeMann, co-chief executive, Maverick Records:

“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki (Weatherhill).

“When chaos seems to prevail so often over simplicity, clarity and enlightenment, Suzuki’s meditations on Zen seem more viable than ever. This is Zen in workable terms, opening the reader to possibilities that occur when one looks at the world with a fresh and open mind.”