In Cory Doctorow's world, characters check their email, use Zip-Loc bags, navigate by GPS, write code, start up ezines, eat Krispy Kremes, and dream in IMAX format. They also travel back in time and think they're the reincarnation of Nicola Tesla -- and who's to say they're not? While Doctorow is serious when it comes to questions of individuality amidst burgeoning corporate culture -- the effects of dejection and encroaching anxiety on a coder running the corporate rat-race in "0wnz0red"  -- he is also funny, and in stories like "The Rebranding of Billy Bailey" his sense of humor vies with his incisively nerdy imagination for first place. From Toronto to Utah to Mogadishu to Radio Shack, A Place So Foreign goes deep into the bowels of life in the new century and comes back up wide-eyed and laughing. Trade paper, list price $15.95, on sale now for $13.95.

I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature. Oh, what fun a child can have by jumping in mud puddles, collecting bugs, and listening to the birds And yet, many children today have become so occupied with TV, computers, and video games, that unstructured, outdoor play is sadly becoming a thing of the past. Organized by season, and appropriate for both urban and country settings, each activity is accompanied by a fun fact to help further a child's understanding of the natural world and open up a conversation. Trade paper, $12.95.

Manual of Critical Care Nursing: Nursing Intervention & Collaborative Management. This essential resource provides quick access to the latest information for more than 75 clinical phenomena seen in critical care and is ideal for use in the clinical setting to plan nursing care. Each disorder includes a brief description of pathophysiology, assessment, diagnostic testing, collaborative management, nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions specific to those diagnoses, and patient teaching and rehabilitation. Its convenient outline format and portable size make it the perfect clinical companion. The book includes the pacemaker code chart from this website. Trade paper, $61.75.

By now most of us are aware of the threats looming in the food world. The best-selling Fast Food Nation and other recent books have alerted us to such dangers as genetically modified organisms, foodborne diseases, and industrial farming. Now it is time for answers, and Slow Food Nation steps up to the challenge. The three central principles of the Slow Food plan are these: food must be sustainably produced in ways that are sensitive to the environment, those who produce the food must be fairly treated, and the food must be healthful and delicious. Amidst our crisis, it is critical that Americans look for insight from other cultures around the world and begin to build a new and better way of eating in our communities here. Hardcover, $22.50.

As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man's mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. It was an almost perfect crime. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger's success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist. His true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling both the Nazis and the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life. Hardcover, $26.95.

Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. She claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a "tesseract," which, if you didn't know, is a wrinkle in time. Meg's father had been experimenting with time-travel when he suddenly disappeared. Will Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin outwit the forces of evil as they search through space for their father? A Wrinkle In Time was one of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990 - 2000. Trade paper, $6.99.