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Clones of Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz. A robotic housekeeper who makes your bed every morning. A permanent size 6 figure. These are all just fantasies . . . or are they?

How much do you really know about gene therapy, artificial intelligence, and bionic modification?

In How to Clone the Perfect Blonde, award-winning journalists Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham show how cutting-edge science will eventually make your wildest dreams come true. With amazing anecdotes and breezy humor, they describe the latest discoveries in biotechnology, quantum mechanics, cryogenics, nanotechnology, wormholes, and much more-complete with ironic “instructions” on How to Build a Robotic Servant, How to Live Forever, How to Turn Back Time, and more. You’ll be amazed to learn how many of these “fantasies” are already well within our reach.

In the tradition of bestselling pop-science books such as The Physics of Star Trek and How to Build a Time Machine, this entertaining read explores the science of science fiction-and proves that anything is possible!

SUE NELSON is an award-winning science correspondent for BBC News.

RICHARD HOLLINGHAM is a journalist and presenter for BBC Radio.

Is it ever okay to “embellish” your dating profile? What’s the best way to deal with close-talkers? How can you handle a date who shows too much PDA? Discover the answers to these and other burning questions in Caroline Tiger’s guide to modern love, How to Behave: Dating and Sex. You’ll learn the proper etiquette for:

    * Ditching your date with aplomb
    * Accepting rejection gracefully
    * Avoiding scratchy stubble face-burn
    * Negotiating “ex sex”

With more than 60 scenarios that run the gamut from flirting to first date etiquette to sex, this refreshingly new take on social manners deals with the real-life etiquette questions everyone wonders about . . . but has been afraid to ask.

CAROLINE TIGER writes for Self, Ms., Salon, and Philadelphia Magazine. The author of How to Behave and The Long-Distance Relationship Guide, she lives in Philadelphia, where she both dishes out and takes her own good counsel.

Let How to Behave teach you the intricacies of

     •  Road Rage Survival
     •  Airplane Seating Etiquette 
     •  Facebook Manners
     •  Shopping Cart Navigation
     •  Polite E-mail Practices
     •  Crowded Elevator Propriety
     •  Office Cubicle Courtesy
     •  Online Dating Decorum

From the grocery store to the workplace, from standing in line to friending online, How to Behave gives you step-by-step instructions and multiple strategies for navigating the social situations of modern life.

In today’s fast-paced workplace-where e-mails fly at lightning speed-precision and brevity are essential for good communication. But most of us just run spell check and hope for the best, because we’ve forgotten the simple grammar rules we learned in school.

In How Not to Write, Terence Denman, an instructor with the U.K.-based Plain English Campaign, sets out the top ten grammar myths and the ten grammar rules to live and work by. Readers will learn how to:

Position prepositions
Chop off unwanted auxiliaries
Root out passivity
Eliminate extraneous adjectives
Punctuate with impunity

With a breezy, wry, and accessible tone that never scolds but always enlightens, How Not to Write is an indispensable guide to clear, concise, and correct language in the workplace.

TERENCE DENMAN is a Cambridge-educated instructor with the U.K.-based Plain English Campaign, an international organization of over 6,000 members in 70 countries that fights for the use of crystal-clear language in business and government communications. (Plus, he’s British, so you know he speaks good English.)

You’ve never seen tarot cards like these before. Imagine the celebrated “Ryder Deck” infused with the spirit of Leave It to Beaver, and the result is The Housewives Tarot-a dazzling retro interpretation of a classic divination system.

With illustrations of martini glasses (cups), mops and brooms (wands), Duncan Hines chocolate cake (the Devil), wood-paneled station wagons (the Chariot), bathroom scales (Judgment), and other 1950s iconography, these tarot cards can answer all of life’s most challenging questions. The enclosed instruction book shows you how to interpret all 78 cards-and describes how to assemble them using five different layouts: the Virgin Spread, the Neapolitan Spread, the Clothesline Spread, the Dinette Spread, and the Martini Spread.

The secrets of The Housewives Tarot await you!

PAUL KEPPLE and JUDE BUFFUM are better known as Headcase Design, one of Philadelphia’s most innovative graphic design studios. With The Housewives Tarot, they make their debut as writer-illustrators.

Quirk Owner’s Manuals have taught readers how to “repair” and “maintain” babies, toddlers, dogs, and cats. Now we’re tackling the biggest and most complicated “appliance” of all-your home!

Through step-by-step instructions and techy schematic diagrams, The Home Owner’s Manual explores hundreds of frequently asked questions: How can I drain the sludge out of my water heater? What makes my radiators “hiss” at night? Is there any easy way to unstop a toilet? How can I fill a crack in my wall? And when should I seek professional help?

You’ll also find advice on inspecting a new home, moving in, redecorating, emergency maintenance, and much more. With plenty of helpful illustrations to guide you along, The Home Owner’s Manual makes household maintenance a breeze.

DAN RAMSEY, a licensed building and home improvement contractor, has taught thousands of homeowners how to fix things through his Web site, fixitclub.com (hosted by BobVila.com). He lives in Willets, California.