To read Diane Ackerman’s A Natural History of the Senses is to dive headlong into a sensuous feast. These delightful, inspired essays on the five senses – smell, touch, vision, hearing, taste – mix biology, psychology, history, anthropology, and poetry into voluptuous prose. Who could fail to pause over Diane Ackerman’s description of Cleopatra welcoming Mark Antony to her bed in a room awash in a foot and a half of rose petals? Learn why orange juice tastes bitter when you drink it after brushing your teeth. Crawl in total darkness, feeling your way through the blaring confusion of textures in the San Francisco Touch Dome. Visit a laboratory in suburban Chicago where they levitate objects with ultra sound, or meet a “professional nose” who has “composed” scents for everything from perfume to laundry detergent. A rich book, where even the rhythm and movement of the sentences can be awe-inspiring, A Natural History of the Senses is not meant to be gobbled in huge helpings, but to be savored and browsed through like a box of exquisite chocolates. You’ll come away from each reading with keener senses – seeing colors more deeply, hearing your favorite music anew, savoring complex flavors on your tongue. – For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let’s Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. — From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Margaret Liddiard

Diane Ackerman’s lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. “Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.”–The New York Times. (Literature–Classics & Contemporary)

Diane Ackerman’s lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. “Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.”–The New York Times. (Literature–Classics & Contemporary)

In Make a Scene, Jordan E. Rosenfeld magnifies with intelligence and insight the underpinnings of powerful story making. Demonstrating in a step-by-step manner why a scene works, Rosenfeld shows how fiction writers can apply this knowledge to their own work. The astonishing depth and breadth of this guidebook, which utilizes a wide range of narrative styles to underscore a point, make it a vital tool for writers serious about their craft. — –Jessica Keener, fiction editor of AGNI Magazine

Make a Scene is one of the clearest, most pragmatic books about writing fiction I have ever come across. Refreshingly lacking in ego and full of useful examples and discussion. — –Maryanne Stahl, author of The Opposite Shore and Forgive the Moon

Make a Scene will answer all the questions you might ask–and some you won’t think of asking–on the scene. In clear and concise language, using innumerable examples from James Joyce’s “The Dead” through Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer and on to Harry Potter, with explanations of terms from “the reveal” to the epiphany, Jordan Rosenfeld explores all the secrets of the scene. For the beginning writer, as well as one who thinks he/she knows it all. — –Sheila Kohler, award-winning author of Cracks, Crossways, and Bluebird: Or the Invention of Happiness