2019-03-01ReadersDigest_AUNZ

March• 2019 | 133

READER’S DIGEST

Minibeasts

Alan Henderson

(EXISLE PUBLISHING)

A

running theme in

this remarkable

take on the

‘minibeasts’ of the

animal kingdom is ‘now

you see me, now you

don’t’. There’s the Lichen

Huntsman Spider, which

is almost invisible,

yet attacks with an

“explosive speed”.

Contrasting this is

the vivid ruby red of

the Giant Velvet Mite,

located in the US and

Mexico. Their striking

colour actually warns

off predators. Henderson

is behind Minibeast

Wildlife, an invertebrate

education business,

and photographed this

stunning macro imagery.

This is a fascinating

insight into the insects

we live alongside, which

are essential to the

planet’s survival.

The Cryotron Files

Iain Dey and Douglas Buck

(ALLEN & UNWIN)

 D

elve headfirst into a cold case of the

death of pioneering Cold War

computer scientist Professor Dudley

Buck. Brilliant and hard-working, with a

wife and three young children, Buck was

also well-liked by his university students.

He was well known for inventing the

Cryotron, which paved the way for the

invention of the microchip. With links to the

CIA, he was also integral to the MIT team

that designed the first computer random-

access memory (RAM). Buck’s swift and

unexpected death from ‘virus pneumonia’

is a mystery. The nuclear physicist Louis N.

Ridenour Jr, 47, died almost simultaneously

and suddenly of a brain haemorrhage.

Was it the Russians? An enigmatic read.