He attended San Diego State University, majoring in comparative literature and graduated in 1986 He was the editor-in-chief of SDSU's Daily Aztec newspaper.
The character of shy teenager Mark "The Rat" Ratner, who has a crush on Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, was modeled on Rathbone after writer Cameron Crowe befriended him during Crowe's research for the original book at San Diego's Clairemont High School.
[2] Rathbone's portrayal in the film was featured in an article titled "Geek God" published in the March 13, 1995 issue of People Weekly magazine.
[7] In 1992, Rathbone’s Windows For Dummies became the world’s best-selling computer book and remains so with more than 15 million copies sold by 2019.
His late wife, Tina Rathbone, who wrote Modems for Dummies,[9] died in 2023.