The Z Trek guide to perfect holiday gifts

1. My colleague Larry O’Brien blogged about a reproduction of the original Altair 8800. For under US$1,700 you can own a piece of history.

2. I just treated myself to the 87th edition of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. It’s just the thing if your reading tastes include the magnetic susceptibility of the elements and organic compounds, thermodynamic quantities for the ionization reactions of buffers in water, the sensitivity of the human eye to light of different wavelengths, ebullioscopic constants for calculation of boiling point elevation, and the Fourier expansions for basic periodic functions. Amazon’s price is US$124.56, but a third-party seller had it for about $60.

3. Who wouldn’t want the full 20-volume set — 22,000 pages — of the Oxford English Dictionary? It’s a steal at only US$895, discounted from $1,500.

4. If your tastes are more to video than the printed page, try the Doctor Who Mega Collection, for only US$644 from Amazon. Alas, the 46-disc set isn’t a complete archive of Doctor Who, but it’s probably all the casual fan requires.