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 < back to authors list Dale Layman:
Layman writes in all his spare time. When he's not teaching anatomy and physiology at Joliet Junior College in Illinois, or spending time with his wife and four children, he's in the library going through large stacks of books. "When I write I educate myself," he said. "I learn more by writing it than reading it." He said he finds writing textbooks more satisfying than writing articles because textbooks contain larger amounts of information and articles contain a narrow slice of information. "I love learning," he said. "And I learn more by writing textbooks." Layman has written two books: The Terminology of Anatomy and Physiology in 1983, and The Medical Language: A Programmed Body-Systems Approach in 1995. Both take a different approach than others in the field:
"Pictures are perceived by the human brain more easily than words," Layman said. Sella turcica literally means "Turkish saddle" in Latin. In Terminology, next to the term, he placed a picture of a real saddle from Turkey, explaining that it actually designates the saddle-like depression in the skull bone where the pituitary gland resides. "The pictures and words reinforce each other for maximal learning." "I enjoy coming up with ways to communicate concepts from ancient times to modern students," Layman said. "It is endlessly facinating -- not boring." Home-grown texts Dale Layman wrote his first textbook for himself. He uses his two "homegrown" texts, Homeostasis, a summary of physiologic concepts, and The Language of Medicine, a workbook of medical terminology, in his classes at Joliet Junior College in Illinois, where he is a professor of medical terminology and human anatomy and physiology. "I wrote my first two books for my own use," he said. "To satisfy my own personal teaching style." When they worked well in his own classes, he thought he'd try the national market. His nationally marketed texts, The Terminology of Anatomy and Physiology, published in 1983, and The Medical Language: A Programmed Body-Systems Approach, published in 1995, use a unique computer-oriented approach to learning. This unique approach, he says, enables students to build upon what they've already learned in a stepwise, frame-by-frame process. Layman said he's always been interested in the health and medical field. "It's very basic: It's who we are in the physical sense," he said. "It's a very basic science from which all others extrapolate." Everything comes back to anatomy and physiology, Layman said. He's particularly interested in the historical trends -- how terminology has evolved. "Latin is not a dead language," he said. "It is still very much alive in medical terminology. My challenge is: How do you communicate concepts from ancient times to modern students?" This challenge, he said, is endlessly facinating -- never boring. Layman sees himself as an eternal student. He describes himself as highly motivated and tries to uses that motivation to get others excited in his projects. In his spare time, he enjoys reading motivational books, swimming and running. Layman's bio has been published in Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who in America, American Men and Women of Science and he has recently been asked to submit his bio for a new publication by the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England, 2000 Outstanding People of the 20th Century -- Incorporating the Outstanding Achievement Awards, due out in 1998, and the fifth world edition of the International Book of Honor by the American Biographical Institute. — reported by Kim Pawlak, 1997 |
