Tom Parker is an author and illustrator who lives in Ithaca, N.Y., and works for Cornell University. He has written and illustrated Rules of Thumb volumes 1 and 2, In One Day, Never Trust a Calm Dog, and Le Livre du Bon Sens, a French translation which even he can't understand. Trained as a biologist (Earlham College) Parker spent fifteen years as the cover editor and a contributing writer for American Demographics Magazine. His writing and illustrations have appeared in text books, children's books and a long list of other publications including The Wall Street Journal, Audubon, National Wildlife, Glamour Magazine, and The Whole Earth Catalog/CoEvolutionQuarterly. Parker and his books have appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show, The Today Show and on the CBS Evening News. When he is not collecting rules of thumb, Parker is a flight instructor and flies a 1956 Cessna 180 bush plane. He is currently a contributing writer for MAKE Magazine.