How Things Work: 100 Ways Parents and Kids Can Share the Secrets of Technology

by Neil Ardley

Identifies the scientific principles behind a variety of everyday objects while providing a range of informative and easy-to perform experiments, and highlights such items as a battery, a bar-code reader, and a disk drive. 40,000 first printing.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Childrens

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Neil Ardley was an English jazz composer, pianist, arranger, and acclaimed science writer whose career bridged music, education, and publishing. After studying chemistry at Bristol University, he moved to London and immersed himself in the city's thriving jazz scene, studying composition and arranging before becoming a central figure in modern British jazz. As director of the New Jazz Orchestra, he helped nurture a generation of influential musicians while developing a distinctive musical voice that blended jazz improvisation with classical forms. His albums, including Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, Greek Variations and Other Aegean Exercises, Symphony of Amaranths, and Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, earned critical praise for their ambitious orchestration and innovative use of electronic sounds. Alongside his musical work, Ardley built an equally successful career in publishing. Beginning as an editor, he went on to write more than one hundred books, many aimed at introducing young readers to science, technology, nature, and music. His best-known work, The Way Things Work, illustrated by David Macaulay, became an international bestseller and helped establish him as one of Britain's most successful popular science authors. By the time of his retirement, his books had sold millions of copies worldwide, securing his reputation as both an influential musician and an exceptional communicator of knowledge.

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this whole series of books. This year I am using this one along with How Science Works for my son's sixth grade science texts. Each concept is presented on a two page layout with demonstrations and experiments that he can do to explore further. Following the classical model, he then writes up lab reports on the following day. These books are great for that kind of schedule.

[Peter Hoh · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Things Work: 100 Ways Parents and Kids Can Share the Secrets of Technology, by Neil Ardley, can help teachers and parents learn how to break down complex science concepts into engaging, hands-on activities.

I have used this book as a resource throughout my career as a science teacher (most of my work has been with students between the ages of 6 and 12). Some children may want to read this book on their own, but I suspect that most children would rather do the activities than read about them.

The book provides quite a bit of context for the activities, offering parents and teachers a chance to brush up on a topic so that they can respond effectively when a child asks questions. That's not so much about answering a child's questions as if one were an encyclopedia. Instead, you would know where to point the child to find the answer themselves, or it might prompt you to introduce a new activity that may help create a deeper understanding.

Don't expect to be able to replicate all of the models shown. For instance, the model movie projector, shown on the cover and pages 138 and 139, was most likely made by a museum fabricator with years of experience.

An updated version would replace the tube television with a flat-screen (p. 150) and good luck trying to explain a floppy disk or a fax machine to a 10-year-old. Otherwise, 26 years after publication, the book seems to hold up well. (My edition has a copyright date of 1995.) Of course, a younger person might think otherwise.

(Give me a moment to process the idea that sharing this book with a pre-service teacher today would be like giving pre-service-teacher-me a book from 1958.)

The Dorling-Kindersley style of photography and book design has become commonplace now, but in 1995 this was a fresh and exciting new look.

One other thing I'd change: there's a photo on page 23 of a child wearing protective glasses with an adult who is not wearing protective glasses. DON'T DO THIS. Both the adult and child should be wearing protective glasses. Adults must model the safety practices that they want children to follow.