cover image Toolies: The Official Handbook of Engineers and Applied Scientists

Toolies: The Official Handbook of Engineers and Applied Scientists

Stephen Clark. Donning Company Publishers, $7.95 (127pp) ISBN 978-0-89865-502-5

This humor book is geared to engineering students, who are contrasted throughout with Artsy-Craftsies (liberal arts majors). While Artsy-Craftsies attend grad school because ""nothing you have learned in arts and crafts class is of any use in the nine-to-five world,'' Toolies ``transform abstract thoughts into state-of-the-art masterpieces, the value and striking beauty against which the efforts of many an art major turns pale.'' But the humor pales as Clark surveys top Toolie schools, typical Toolies (``Mary Clark Chadwick, Nickname MC''), role models (Einstein, Edison), Toolie social life and resumes (``Since getting my degree in civil engineering, I read a couple of library books which, I understand, are on file at MIT's library in Cambridge''). The best chapter is takenwith creditfrom John White's Rejection. Perhaps Toolies should leave the writing of humor books to Artsy-Craftsies. (October)