READING L.A.

Billy Pittard, communication designer:

“A Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman (Vintage).

“Perception is reality in my work, and Ackerman tells a fascinating tale about how our senses evolved, how we can process so much visual information or why a certain smell can powerfully stir old memories.”

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Albert Revivo, painting contractor:

“Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl (Beacon Press).

“A book like this reminds you how important life is and how ridiculous our daily little problems can be. Frankl was an Auschwitz survivor: He teaches us that the forces of life are great, and we must learn to live and bear any sufferings with dignity.”

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Joy B. Davis, graduate student:

“The Life of Langston Hughes, Vols. 1 and 2” by Arnold Rampersad (Oxford).

“I was struck by how versatile Hughes was. I only thought of him as a poet, but he also wrote music, traveled the world and was into socialism. I also got the sense that he was a very lonely private person.”

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Susan Franklin Tanner, story analyst:

“The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South” by Osha Gray Davidson (Scribner).

” Davidson draws a picture of the South not in shades of black and white but in terms of rich and poor. He shows the poverty that so many people have in common and how on a personal level that awareness can overcome hatred and prejudice.”