I'm sure everyone knows of Rack but perhaps some may not know exactly what rack does. So if anyone has any links to any interesting background reading please post them here.
Heres a few
I was surprised to see that About.com has a nice short one page explanation here
http://ruby.about.com/od/rack/a/What-Is-Rack.htm
Ryan Bates also has free introductions here
http://railscasts.com/episodes/151-rack-middleware
http://railscasts.com/episodes/222-rack-in-rails-3
and a pro screencast detailing how to make your own app with rack here
http://railscasts.com/episodes/317-rack-app-from-scratch