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It can be a frightening feeling, being out of place. Entering someone else's world and having to learn the ropes is a daunting task. Granta editor Ellah Allfrey recommends three books about encountering other cultures, from the extraterrestrial to the multicultural.

In 2010, U.S.-born workers lost more than 1 million jobs while foreign-born workers gained more than a half-million nationwide. Experts in Phoenix say foreign-born people are more likely to get employed faster because they are more willing to take any job, at any pay. Researchers say the trend could change the national workforce long-term.

Palestinian leaders are acutely aware the earthquake that's rumbling across the Middle East could soon arrive on their soil. The Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is trying to ease the pressure by promising general elections later this year. The prime minister has dismissed the Cabinet and will appoint a new one. Will this be enough?

How can we understand the experiences of those who have lived through war? What do they have to teach us? Author Hilary Thayer Hamann's favorite book attempts to answer these questions, and reinforces just how beautifully implausible life during conflict can be. It's The War by Marguerite Duras.

Allison Pearson follows up I Don't Know How She Does It with I Think I Love You, a screwball comic novel about the lengths a girl will go to for her teen idol.

Scientists are predicting that average sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century. However, the country's deep religious beliefs have residents of the tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean torn between God and science.

In The Lover's Dictionary, young adult author David Levithan tackles the grownup material of love and squalor, piece by piece, in a dictionary format. Over the course of the novel, the small details about two lovers combine to create a heartbreaking (and often uplifting) whole.

Matthew Alexander, a pseudonym for the author, was a military interrogator in Iraq who rejected previously used harsh techniques. He writes about how his team hunted down two key al-Qaida operatives in Kill or Capture.

Ripped from the not-so-heartening headlines, serious hardcovers about war, recession and natural disaster can certainly kill the mood. In honor of Valentine's Day, Pat Dunnigan offers three alternatives for nighttime reading that will lift your spirits — and raise your pulse.

Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran, a pioneer in the field of visual perception, explains how his simple experiments in behavioral neurology have changed the lives of patients suffering from a variety of neurological symptoms in The Tell-Tale Brain.