The New How Things Work: From Lawn Mowers to Surgical Robots and Everthing in Between

by John Langone

Covering all areas of technology, The New How Things Work contains the most up-to-date, elaborately illustrated, fascinating, and fun entries that explain how our technology-driven world functions.

Learn about the objects and ideas we encounter every day, and that are changing our lives, from DVDs and MP3s to plasma screen TVs and wireless Internet technology.

Genres: Reference, Science, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2004

Reviews

[Anton Klink · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How Things Work" tackles excellent topics but ends up a rather dry read. The book sets out to explain how things work, but after having read the excellent "How Science Works", which really was true to its title, I have to say this book falls short if its stated goal.

Instead of actually explaining things, most of the time the author just provides endless lists of items and components that make up one or another machine, without actually bothering to explain the actual working processes behind everything. Certainly you can also find explanations as well, but they are less numerous than I'd like but more importantly - they are less explanatory than they should be. The explanations provided, rather than being vivid, easy to grasp and exciting, are a rather tedious and dull read. Instead of thinking "Wow! I really get it now!", I left most explanations with a feeling of "Ok... but how does it actually work?". Reading the book I truly felt that the medium text is not very well suited to explain how various moving parts work and interact.

The main value of the book are the schematics and cutouts of various gadgets and machines. Those are truly fascinating to study and if you know the general principles of how things work (better learned from other books, since the text in this book is only mildly helpful), the schematics are a good way to visualize and clarify the concepts.

All in all, the book is ok, but not excellent and the text is on the dry side. I would not recommend this book as your only "how things work" book but if you already have another book of this kind, the schematics in this book are a good supplement. I would have even given the book two stars out of five if it wasn't for the subject matter itself that fascinates me, plus the schematics and illustrations are good, so three stars out of five.

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: This informational book is organized easily into categories such as "home", "entertainment", and "health and medicine". Each page-long article is accompanied by beautiful photographs and diagrams of the technology being explained.

Critique: The diagrams are just detailed enough. For example, the jet engine diagram on page 105 shows not only the working parts, but also the flow of air over the components that create propulsion. The image of the CD player in the "Digitized Music" article on page 147 uses insets to show tiny parts and how they function. The captions accurately and simply explain the technology.

Curricular Connection: I would absolutely use this book as a reference book in any library. It would be excellent for boys or girls who are extremely "fix it". It could also be used anytime you're teaching almost anything. For example, any music unit could be accompanied by the articles on the piano or music. A history unit about Marconi might be complimented by the article on how radio works.

[Ambar · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Things Work. My thirteenth birthday gift remains one of my favourite books. Langone explains everything, from everyday kitchen appliances to fusion tokamaks.

And none of it is particularly difficult to grasp.

[Camilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way cool book about inventions, how things work, a really good read.