Gustave's Children: Growing Up in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781547122295)

Thomas B. Barker is Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Before RIT, he was employed by Xerox as an engineer. Tom has a number of interests and has managed to integrate many of them. Photography and imaging play a central role in his activities. He has produced, written, and directed Distance Learning courseware for the MS program in Applied Statistics at RIT. His experience with both still and video photography has made these efforts possible. For six years he conducted a movie camp for his two grandsons and their friends in Amherst, MA. The kids made over ten movies in this camp and have progressed amazingly with this communication medium. He also conducted a movie camp for a troop of Girl Scouts in his home town. His film "The Last Drop of Oil" was an official selection in the Greentopia Film Festival in 2012. Tom has written five books on Experimental Design and its applications. He has also authored a two-volume Repair manual for Gilbert American Flyer electric trains, which is now in its 3rd Edition. His latest movie effort is with a documentary on the history of The A. C. Gilbert Company which depicts the invention of the Erector Set and the history of American Flyer Trains. He is considered an authority on Gilbert history. His other writing ("Newspaper Boy") is an historical biography of his days delivering newspapers. His books are available from Amazon.com and other retail outlets including Yesterday's Muse in Webster, NY. Tom has garnered many awards including: Accolade (McQuaid HS), Who's Who in Colleges (RIT), Outstanding Teacher (RIT), Outstanding Quill Award (Pultneyville YC), A. C. Gilbert Award (Bristol S Gaugers), Lifetime Achievement in Distance Learning (RIT). This book, Gustave's Children, The Legend of the Pikesville Cave is his second work of fiction. It is inspired by his Gilbert American Flyer S Gauge train collection and the five layouts in his basement. He wrote this book surrounded by his trains, where he did all the photography and illustrations. Tom lives in Webster, New York and has traveled around the world with his wife Anne. They have a perfect sized Chinook motor home in which they travel throughout the USA.