by Jesse Garon

Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, An American Spy
Tim Weiner, David Johnston, and Neil A. Lewis (Random House)

The arrest of Aldrich Ames in February of 1994 brought to light one of the most shocking real-life espionage stories of the Cold War. For years, a mole within the CIA had fed the Soviets information, some of which led to the murder of prized agents in the USSR. Three Washington correspondents for The New York Times have pooled their resources and talents to come up with an account of the joint CIA/FBI investigation that eventually led to Ames's identification and capture. Tim Weiner's experience covering the CIA, David Johnston's background with the Justice Department and federal law enforcement, and Neil A. Lewis's general reportage talents come together to provide a comprehensive account of the case. Notably, every source quoted in Betrayal is on-the-record, from Ames and his wife to various government officials. The up-front nature of the material helps to establish the credibility of the story, as the authors detail precisely how a career spy could manage to delude his superiors and undermine decades of intelligence work for years -- without getting caught.

Anybody who has spent any amount of time with computers has run across bugs. A crashed hard drive may be frustrating, but there are some computer defects that can have even more disastrous consequences. Ivars Peterson takes a close look at cases in which, among other things, a failed safeguard system can crash a plane, or a cancer patient can receive a massive overdose of radiation. Peterson, a regular columnist on computers and mathematics for Science News, explains the technical aspects of his examples in clear and concise language that most people unfamiliar with computers should grasp readily. He also focuses on the human side of the issue, by interviewing a wide variety of experts, people who daily track down the flaws in our computer systems and try to correct them before they can become fatal. Whether discussing the problems with the Pentium chip, or outlining why our computers' internal dating systems may be in trouble come New Year's Day 2000, Peterson puts a compelling spin on the situation, and points to the development of improved computer systems in the future.