Richard Rathe's Reading Room

One of the great novels of the twentieth century. Also one of the most powerful expressions of existentialism and humanism ever written. I reviewed this book for the Narrative Medicine Series in 2003. See also the article A hero for our times published in The Guardian.

The Plague is an allegorical novel set in the modern city of Oran on the north African coast. The principal character Dr. Rieux confronts a series of medical, ethical and moral dilemmas as an epidemic of bubonic plague breaks out and the city is quarantined. Rieux must overcome his fear, loneliness and despair in order to function while conceding that he is mostly powerless in the face of his microscopic enemy. As the crisis abates he concludes that he only did what had to be done and will be done again "by all who, while unable to be saints but refusing to bow down to pestilences, strive their utmost to be healers."

Camus Quotations...

Visionary essay that anticipated computers, fiberoptics, databases, and hypertext. Published in 1945!

"Presumably man's spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems.... His excursions may be more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold things he does not need to have immediately at hand, with some assurance that he can find them again if they prove important."

This Wired Magazine article blew me away back in 1995...

"The only unfungible, unreplicable value will be people's presence, time and attention; in order to sell that presence, time and attention outside their own community, creators will have to give away content for free."

More recently she has published Release 2.0 (see review by Jakob Nielsen).

"Perl is the duct tape of the Internet." This expressive, multi-platform, open-source, (FREE!) programming language has framed my professional life for the past ten years. The Camel Book is essential reading for anyone interested in Perl. See also Larry Wall's essay on Natural Language Principles in Perl.

Larry Wall Quotations...

From the man who brought us Pretty Good Privacy...

"No data security system is impenetrable. ...You have to ask yourself if the information you are trying to protect is more valuable to your attacker than the cost of the attack. This should lead you to protect yourself from the cheapest attacks, while not worrying about the more expensive ones."

I presented this pair of books for the Narrative Medicine Series in 2002. Beyond Fear is more technical while Culture of Fear is more sociological. Schneier also has a security weblog with an RSS feed .

My invited commentary on the physical exam and its place in modern medicine.

"The physician must be prepared to play the roles of screener, coach, and counselor."

Foreshadows the rise of Google, with "democratic" ranking of search results.

"The underlying assumption of our approach views each link as an implicit endorsement of the location to which it points."

My first Web publishing effort. A series of short chapters describing medicine in the late 1800s and early 1990s. Dr. Rohlf was my grandfather's mentor and partner. He was known as "Uncle Bill" in my family, although he wasn't a blood relation.

One of my major heroes growing up. I became seriously interested in his life and work after my grandfather gave me a copy of The Romance of Leonardo Da Vinci by Merejcovski. The recent biography by Bramly suggests he may have been gay. His Notebooks (2) are available online.

"I would prefer to lose the power of movement than that of usefulness. I would prefer death to inactivity. . . . I never tire of being useful."

Leonardo Quotations...