Brugge Blog

I always find it fun to learn about the passions of techy geeks that are outside of the technical world, especially when they reveal an artistic passion that’s been given its freedom.

Don Knuth, for example, has a permanent spot in the computer science Hall of Fame, but he also put together a remarkable book called 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated. It’s an outgrowth of a bible study group at his church where they took a slice of the bible by reading the 3rd chapter, 16th verse of each book, and then did a deeper examination of that single verse. They were amazed at the beauty and richness that they found in a seemingly random slice of the whole work. And then Knuth went the next step and let his love for typography and form take over; he invited reknowned calligraphers from around the world to illustrate each of these verses, and put the writing and reflections together into a truly remarkable book. Computer scientist?

I thought back to this tonight when I read that Bill Atkinson, Mac hero, is making a mark in nature photography. Why not?

Besides being a reminder of the opportunities our life can give us, I find these people interesting in how their lives throw out a chicken-and-egg question: which came first, the art or the engineering? And how do they feed each other?

It’s also more impetus to dust off my own camera.