
Scottish author Iain Banks dies aged 59 - ColinWright
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/scottish-author-iain-banks-dies-aged-59-1-2960671
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Nogwater
See:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5849186](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5849186)

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ColinWright
Yes, just spotted that, thanks.

I'll leave this here, but for anyone reading this, the discussion is "over
there".

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kolinko
I'm wondering though. He discovered that he had cancer in January, or
February, and it was quite well developer.

Why didn't he notice it sooner? Why didn't he go for occasional checkups?

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rosser
Cancer is very often completely asymptomatic until it's too late to do
anything about it. We've recently developed blood tests that can detect, or
maybe suggest the presence of _some_ cancers, but they're relatively new, and
the other means of detecting it are typically only employed when there's a
reason to suspect they're needed. I don't know what the NHS's technology
adoption rate is, though, so I can't even begin to speculate on whether or not
he could have availed himself of them, let alone whether they're applicable to
the rare type of gallbladder cancer Banks had.

Either way, I am a very sad person today. I've just pre-ordered _Quarry_ , and
I'm about to head downstairs to see which of his other books I've least
recently read, and will probably start reading one of them again this
afternoon.

Vaya con Dios, Iain. Thanks for everything.

