Ctrl+Alt+Chaos
Joe Tidy Elliott & Thompson (2025)
The BBC’s first cyber correspondent, Joe Tidy, travels the world interviewing high-profile cybercriminals and cybersecurity experts — part of a growing industry worth US$200 billion. What most intrigues him after a decade is how often hackers are solitary teenage boys, teaming up from their bedrooms, often thousands of kilometres apart, to “cause mayhem”. Why? Some want to hurt people, but a “decent chunk” have no idea of the harm and chaos they cause.
Vanished
Sadiah Qureshi Allen Lane (2025)
Before the nineteenth century, science did not know of extinct species. Then, fossil evidence introduced the concept of natural extinction, which was fully accepted in the theory of evolution. This period coincided with major colonial empires. Many white European naturalists and colonizers “argued that colonized peoples were on the verge of extinction”, writes historian of science, race and empire Sadiah Qureshi in her groundbreaking book. Some even thought this justified persecution of colonized peoples, and perhaps genocide.
Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics
Frank Verstraete & Céline Broeckaert Macmillan (2025)
Quantum physics has long been mysterious, even for specialists, yet husband–wife duo physicist Frank Verstraete and linguist Céline Broeckaert succeed, often with brilliance, in making its history and mind-blowing ways accessible to lay readers. “Like listening to music,” they advise, “you don’t have to understand the mathematical underpinning to enjoy it.” A pity, however, that they don’t discuss Thomas Young’s 1801 double-slit experiment — which is “the heart of quantum mechanics”, according to physicist Richard Feynman.
The Tree of Life
Max Telford John Murray (2025)
