Ralph intended to title his autobiography The Wrong Stuff, based on what he saw to be a chain of near-misses with various sorts of greatness. His family and friends prefer to think that this was not a failure in him, but rather a gift that associating with him tended to increase other people's odds for success. He wasn't able to write most of that autobiography, but here are a few of the things he did write about himself.

DARPA retirement speach, November 2007

Officer of the Deck: a "quick" summation of the steps involved in getting a submarine up to periscope depth