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Publishing News
By Rachel Baldwin
February 13, 2008
Tom Dutton, a biomedical technology equipment instructor at Texas State
Technical College Waco, did not intentionally start out writing the textbook
that eventually became The Hand Tools Manual, published for instructional
use in the spring of 2008.
The idea to write a book about hand tools actually came about when he was
gathering some extended information for his students. He was not happy with
any of the books about tools that he read or came across, finding them
'old-fashioned' and written with the intent to teach the student how to use
a tool without telling them how the tool came about, or why it is still used
today.
"It's not intended to be a know-all, be-all," he said, referring to his
manual. "It's an introduction to introduce students to hand tools. The only
way to know tools is to use them."
Part of the reason that The Hand Tools Manual is different from most
textbooks is that it includes some history about each tool.
"I tried to use history to make it more readable for students. If it's a
more readable book, students will really get something out of it," Dutton
said.
"In the future, I want the book to be able to be used to cover everything,
or to cover a specific topic for a certain class," he said, "I'll edit the
book for biomedical students, for electrician students, for the different
classes that teach hand tools."
Dutton received his bachelor's degree in industrial arts from Arizona State
University. There, he also received his teaching degree and after three
years of teaching at J.L. Williams Jr. High in Copperas Cove came to TSTC
Waco to get his degree in biomedical equipment technology. He went to work
for Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple for five years and then the
Genesys Regional Hospital in Grand Blanc, Michigan for a little more than 10
years. He returned to TSTC Waco and has been an instructor for three years.
© 2008 TSTC Publishing
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