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The Way Things Work by David Macaulay
11x9 hardcover Beautiful illustrated first ed
Hardcover
First published October 4, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 28, 2024
sickkkk. reference books are not usually known for being well-organized or enjoyable to read, which is fine because that's not the purpose for which they are made. but this was beautifully organized and a joy to read from start to finish 😭 i worried that this book would be either too dense/technical or overly simplistic, but (to my technically untrained understanding) macaulay did a great job--both by organizing each successive idea page-by-page so that it built off the ones before and by his charming, precise writing--at striking the right balance between breaking things down into straightforward concepts while still provoking awe at and curiosity for human ingenuity. blew it out of the water with his gorgeous illustrations as well. no notes 🙏
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June 14, 2022Something this book does exceptionally well at is simplifying complex concepts and making it accessible. In The Way Things Work, Macaulay explains how hundreds examples of technology actually works from simple levers, to hot air balloons to planes. This book worked as an excellent model for a unit on explanation text in Year 5 where we explored the unit through this book and produced our own explanation text about a piece of technology. The language used in the book is technical and scientific, utilising grammatical features such as relative clauses. As the language is technical, a child might not be able to understand all of the vocabulary if they were reading this book independent - teachers would need to make sure to make the vocabulary and concepts clear in the book as it deals with complex concepts. Therefore, teachers would need to have some knowledge about the mechanics being taught. With its links to technology and science, this book offers some great cross curricular links especially on lessons to do with forces.
January 30, 2023
We have almost every edition/iteration of this book! If you wanted to know what any piece of technology would look like if you cleanly sawed it in half, and an expert on the anatomy of said technology was right next to you explaining "how it worked," then you need this book and it's brothers too.
December 30, 2019
Very cleverly written. Ch 5, the last chapter, The Digital Domain, p. 310, has a humorous and clever introduction. Having played with the mammoth throughout the book, using it in various scenarios to demonstrate the principles and inventions being discussed, he is now obsolete, The Last Mammoth.
Unfortunately, this book substitutes BCE and CE for BC and AD. Deduct one star for that affront to Christianity.
End of book has a chapter titled Eureka, where it briefly discusses major inventions through the centuries, giving time, place and people names. A dictionary of Technical Terms at the end
I read this book on my newest old Kindle Fire because this book will not open on iPad. Too bad because it was a pain to read it on the smaller Kindle screen. Also, adding to the frustration, every page needed to be pinched out in order to zoom in on the text to make it readable, requiring a few seconds of wait time for the screen to adjust and focus on the desired text. A very interesting and enjoyable book but a maddening way to read it. Why isn’t it downloadable for iPad??????
The five parts of this book are as follows:
PART 1 The Mechanics of Movement.
PART 2 Harnessing the Elements.
PART 3 Working with Waves.
PART 4 Electricity & Automation.
PART 5 The Digital Domain.
Each part is then subdivided into chapters. An extra chapter at the end is entitled "Eureka! The Invention of Machines". There is also a section of Technical Terms and an Index. The book is interesting to read and eye candy that is usual for DK books. The book is written in a humorous style that makes it easy to read and understand complex scientific knowledge. BUT STILL . . . This book requires a great deal of thinking. It taxed my brain to try to understand much of the information. This is good for me and especially for youngsters, to make them think about how and why things work.
This book was reviewed in World magazine on Feb 27 2017.
Unfortunately, this book substitutes BCE and CE for BC and AD. Deduct one star for that affront to Christianity.
End of book has a chapter titled Eureka, where it briefly discusses major inventions through the centuries, giving time, place and people names. A dictionary of Technical Terms at the end
I read this book on my newest old Kindle Fire because this book will not open on iPad. Too bad because it was a pain to read it on the smaller Kindle screen. Also, adding to the frustration, every page needed to be pinched out in order to zoom in on the text to make it readable, requiring a few seconds of wait time for the screen to adjust and focus on the desired text. A very interesting and enjoyable book but a maddening way to read it. Why isn’t it downloadable for iPad??????
The five parts of this book are as follows:
PART 1 The Mechanics of Movement.
PART 2 Harnessing the Elements.
PART 3 Working with Waves.
PART 4 Electricity & Automation.
PART 5 The Digital Domain.
Each part is then subdivided into chapters. An extra chapter at the end is entitled "Eureka! The Invention of Machines". There is also a section of Technical Terms and an Index. The book is interesting to read and eye candy that is usual for DK books. The book is written in a humorous style that makes it easy to read and understand complex scientific knowledge. BUT STILL . . . This book requires a great deal of thinking. It taxed my brain to try to understand much of the information. This is good for me and especially for youngsters, to make them think about how and why things work.
This book was reviewed in World magazine on Feb 27 2017.
December 9, 2016
This book explains the inner workings of everything that makes our lives run today. The Way Things Work explains the inner mechanics and the tools behind everything from electric cars to the way wifi works on everyones phones. The most special part of this book is the illustrations that go along with all of the inventions and tools described in the book.
This book will be great for students in grade 6 and up. Everything in today's world is so run through technology, especially for the youth, that it is important that they know how these seemingly common things work. The illustrations bring the descriptions to life on each page.
Paired book: Built to Last
It is difficult to find a quote in this book because it is mostly filled with diagrams, but I think this book would be a great mentor text on comparing the life we live now and the life people have lived in the past.
This book will be great for students in grade 6 and up. Everything in today's world is so run through technology, especially for the youth, that it is important that they know how these seemingly common things work. The illustrations bring the descriptions to life on each page.
Paired book: Built to Last
It is difficult to find a quote in this book because it is mostly filled with diagrams, but I think this book would be a great mentor text on comparing the life we live now and the life people have lived in the past.
November 10, 2019
4.4
If civilization was to ever fall, with a thorough understanding of this book, it would be possible to one could rebuild it all with just this book. It holds no bars, and though aimed at children, will likely find it's target audience befuddled if they lack a multidisciplinary engineering background. It tells you how to build a thermonuclear bomb just as well as how to build a powerplant. It tells how to build car, a jet plane, and a spaceship and why they are built the way they are. More important than the discrete machincations, it tells you principles that give rise the technologies mentioned above.
There are multiple multiple moment of genius which David make apparent such as the revealing of the wheel as a heavily disguised lever. Or that all rays/electromagnetic radition move at the speed of light. These little tidbids, specific to the reader, fills in any gaps in understanding between disparate subjects. There are also moments of ingenius, such as describing bicycle brake calipers and the use of first-class levers for one end, and second-class levers of the other end that doesn't get across. The image doesn't make it apparent that the semi-flexible sheatjing of the brake wire applies the counteracting force necessary to apply the second-class lever. That was the only infraction spotted which I couldn't understand without first-hand experience (a posteriori). Everything else can be understood a priori.
A reader might then find fault with the nature of the printed medium. As reading and writing are a linear medium, one can't explain technologies of concurrence or multiple interference directly. The book does its best to arrange a "narrative" where each preceding principle helps build the next but this fails when the technology combines multiple principles, such as a car (levers, pneumatics, hydraulics, pulleys, elastics, wheels etc.) or with atomic fusion (magnetics, electrics, rays, temperature etc.) and especially the digital end (where everything occurs almost at once (or in the case of quantum computers, which aren't covered, where everything does occur at the same time (or not, scientists can't tell))).
Fear not. The book will explain all, even the parts you can't understand at the first moment, but it will require a patient, inquiring mind, and thorough reading all the way to the end. A cumulative knowledge will feed into you total understanding later.
But this book doesn't contain all knowledge. What this book does not do is explain materials or detailing. It called 'How' things work, not 'What' things are. It describes materials of specific properties, such as steel or ferrous metals, which multiple technologies depend on, of which without civilization-rebuilding would not be possible, but not how to acquire, locate, or synthesize them. The one exception being the lodestone, which David points out as one of the few naturally occurring permanent magnets. So yeah. Get that.
It doesn't go into the nature of textiles (how different weaves work, or the nature of various materials) nor does it explain how human musculature works which would be beneficial to anyone with a moving body. Another pet peeve is that the image, and often the most important parts, are creased into the bind due to the books enormous size. I can't think of a solution to this but it does fragment the "reading" of images to some dismay. The digital section is also highly superficial, but it probably also couldn't be understood if explained it its totality. And though it teaches the principles of how one can build a rocketship, it leaves the ingenuity of fine-tuning for use, up the reader, which is exactly what it should do as nuclear bomb and a nuclear powerplant are the same things in terms of technology, but it is fine-tuning to the overall application that separates the two.
For these neglected topics, search elsewhere. If I find other sources as comprehensive, I will post them here.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed this book. It took me four days to read, of which each day was filled with the strained joy of learning, a pain which I haven't felt since I was as computer science/mathematics/engineering undergrad. But unlike my studies, this strain wasn't due to obfuscation, lack of clarity, or the sifting of verbal chaff. It was pure information and the most enjoyable type. It contains information that had taken 25 years to accumulate independently from an uncountable number of disciplines on my end, which David Macaulay has neatly gathered into one spot. At risk of being overly verbose and opinionated, I wish I had found this book earlier.
If civilization was to ever fall, with a thorough understanding of this book, it would be possible to one could rebuild it all with just this book. It holds no bars, and though aimed at children, will likely find it's target audience befuddled if they lack a multidisciplinary engineering background. It tells you how to build a thermonuclear bomb just as well as how to build a powerplant. It tells how to build car, a jet plane, and a spaceship and why they are built the way they are. More important than the discrete machincations, it tells you principles that give rise the technologies mentioned above.
There are multiple multiple moment of genius which David make apparent such as the revealing of the wheel as a heavily disguised lever. Or that all rays/electromagnetic radition move at the speed of light. These little tidbids, specific to the reader, fills in any gaps in understanding between disparate subjects. There are also moments of ingenius, such as describing bicycle brake calipers and the use of first-class levers for one end, and second-class levers of the other end that doesn't get across. The image doesn't make it apparent that the semi-flexible sheatjing of the brake wire applies the counteracting force necessary to apply the second-class lever. That was the only infraction spotted which I couldn't understand without first-hand experience (a posteriori). Everything else can be understood a priori.
A reader might then find fault with the nature of the printed medium. As reading and writing are a linear medium, one can't explain technologies of concurrence or multiple interference directly. The book does its best to arrange a "narrative" where each preceding principle helps build the next but this fails when the technology combines multiple principles, such as a car (levers, pneumatics, hydraulics, pulleys, elastics, wheels etc.) or with atomic fusion (magnetics, electrics, rays, temperature etc.) and especially the digital end (where everything occurs almost at once (or in the case of quantum computers, which aren't covered, where everything does occur at the same time (or not, scientists can't tell))).
Fear not. The book will explain all, even the parts you can't understand at the first moment, but it will require a patient, inquiring mind, and thorough reading all the way to the end. A cumulative knowledge will feed into you total understanding later.
But this book doesn't contain all knowledge. What this book does not do is explain materials or detailing. It called 'How' things work, not 'What' things are. It describes materials of specific properties, such as steel or ferrous metals, which multiple technologies depend on, of which without civilization-rebuilding would not be possible, but not how to acquire, locate, or synthesize them. The one exception being the lodestone, which David points out as one of the few naturally occurring permanent magnets. So yeah. Get that.
It doesn't go into the nature of textiles (how different weaves work, or the nature of various materials) nor does it explain how human musculature works which would be beneficial to anyone with a moving body. Another pet peeve is that the image, and often the most important parts, are creased into the bind due to the books enormous size. I can't think of a solution to this but it does fragment the "reading" of images to some dismay. The digital section is also highly superficial, but it probably also couldn't be understood if explained it its totality. And though it teaches the principles of how one can build a rocketship, it leaves the ingenuity of fine-tuning for use, up the reader, which is exactly what it should do as nuclear bomb and a nuclear powerplant are the same things in terms of technology, but it is fine-tuning to the overall application that separates the two.
For these neglected topics, search elsewhere. If I find other sources as comprehensive, I will post them here.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed this book. It took me four days to read, of which each day was filled with the strained joy of learning, a pain which I haven't felt since I was as computer science/mathematics/engineering undergrad. But unlike my studies, this strain wasn't due to obfuscation, lack of clarity, or the sifting of verbal chaff. It was pure information and the most enjoyable type. It contains information that had taken 25 years to accumulate independently from an uncountable number of disciplines on my end, which David Macaulay has neatly gathered into one spot. At risk of being overly verbose and opinionated, I wish I had found this book earlier.
July 4, 2021
Divided into 5 main sections - The Mechanics of Movement; Harnessing the Elements; Working with Waves; Electricity and Automation; The Digital Domain - The Way Things Work Now is perfect for curious kids (and adults) who want to know how everything from combine harvesters and telescopes, to toilets and touchscreens work. It's also beautifully illustrated book. I must confess though that physics was one of my weaker subjects in school and even though The Way Things Work is meant to be very accessible, I did struggle to understand the explanations - even for the simplest of machines like nail clippers and locks and keys:
"Nail clippers are a neat combination of two levers that produce a strong cutting action while at the same time being easy to control. The handle is a second-class lever that presses the cutting blades together. It produces a strong effort on the blades, which form a compound third-class lever. The cutting edge moves a short distance to overcome the tough resistance of the nail as they slice through it."
I might have to raid the non-fiction section for Junior Readers to help break down physics concepts. Or re-read Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe. 4 stars for being so comprehensive and beautiful to look at.
"Nail clippers are a neat combination of two levers that produce a strong cutting action while at the same time being easy to control. The handle is a second-class lever that presses the cutting blades together. It produces a strong effort on the blades, which form a compound third-class lever. The cutting edge moves a short distance to overcome the tough resistance of the nail as they slice through it."
I might have to raid the non-fiction section for Junior Readers to help break down physics concepts. Or re-read Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe. 4 stars for being so comprehensive and beautiful to look at.
March 24, 2019
If you've ever looked at the technology around you, from your car to your computer to your mains electricity, and wanted to know exactly how it all works, this is the book for you. It covers just about every commonly used gadget you can think of, breaking it down to the physical principles that make it operate, in a way that's easy to comprehend; the author frequently uses little humorous stories involving woolly mammoths to demonstrate the principles of what he's talking about. If I had one problem with this book, it's that the structure - grouping inventions based on their principles rather than their functions - sometimes causes it to skip back and forth, discussing single inventions that utilise multiple principles (e.g. the car engine) in bits over multiple sections, which can make it harder to grasp the whole product. But this is still a really informative book which has helped me to look at the world with a bit more understanding, and appreciation for the very smart people that invented all these gadgets in the first place.
December 26, 2018
If I had to gift something to a very curious child, I cannot think of a more appropriate gift than this book. From wheels, pulleys, zippers, engines to the touchscreen, smartphones, 3D printers and drones, this book has them all illustrated and explained. Even better they are neatly grouped together and categorized into the followings which make things easier:
- Mechanics of Movement
- Harnessing the Elements
- Working with Waves
- Electricity & Automation
- The Digital Domain
Neither too technical nor too basic this book is filled with big and colorful illustrations which are still very concise and easy to understand. The illustrations can feel somewhat limiting in some cases but for most of the book does an excellent job of explaining how things work. Storytelling-wise, I enjoyed the humor infused within the narrative but felt there was a little too much of it. I feel that maybe the Wolly Mammoth needs to be toned down a little bit.
- Mechanics of Movement
- Harnessing the Elements
- Working with Waves
- Electricity & Automation
- The Digital Domain
Neither too technical nor too basic this book is filled with big and colorful illustrations which are still very concise and easy to understand. The illustrations can feel somewhat limiting in some cases but for most of the book does an excellent job of explaining how things work. Storytelling-wise, I enjoyed the humor infused within the narrative but felt there was a little too much of it. I feel that maybe the Wolly Mammoth needs to be toned down a little bit.
November 23, 2021
This book has multiple chapters that talk about the way things work and is incredibly detailed. It talks about things such as the can opener and inclined planes. It includes many diagrams and tons of pictures to support the text. The author begins the book by talking about wooly mammoths and they are incorporated throughout the book. I gave this book 5 stars because it is a really good resource for science classes and for students to get a greater understanding of how things in our world work, from big to small. This is a great resource to use in the classroom.
March 8, 2022
This highly detailed book demonstrates an easy to understand yet in depth explanation for our everyday technology tools. The vivid pictures in the book attract the reader’s attention to learn more about the technology tool’s usage and principles of the design. Well suited for young adult reading level and especially high relevance to modern day teenager’s interest, this book demonstrates the importance of engaging and understanding the surroundings around us.
February 4, 2023
I was utterly fascinated by the first half of this book. I wish my science classes in high school had been taught this way. Wheeled levers, inclined planes, cams - it was very educational. When it came to more complicated things, anything electric, I was less interested. Some combination of having a basic understanding already, or just indifference to learning.
This could be a great book for a curious middle schooler.
This could be a great book for a curious middle schooler.
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December 4, 2019Young students are always curious. They wonder how things are made and why its made. This book named The Way Things Work Now, written by David Macaulay, is a book filled with information on how to build things and why they are built. This book is made for children. It helps engage them to create things, this book is filled with bright colors.
March 12, 2021
Haven't read the whole book but have already learned so much. This book is perfect for someone who just wants to learn more about how things work. It is very fun to learn with the mammoth. Having both illustrations and writing about how a thing works helps out a lot. If you don't understand the writing, you look at the illustration or vise versa, this also helps learn more.
January 11, 2022
packed with information on the inner workings of everything from windmills to Wi-Fi, this extraordinary and humorous book both guides readers through the fundamental principles of machines, and shows how the developments of the past are building the world of tomorrow.
This sweepingly revised edition embraces all of the latest developments, from touchscreens to 3D printer.
This sweepingly revised edition embraces all of the latest developments, from touchscreens to 3D printer.
December 23, 2017
EUREKA!
The updated version includes some latest hits in the digit world, e.g. robots and virtual reality. All chapters are so interesting. Everything is so easy to understand! A must on everyone's bucket reading list!
The updated version includes some latest hits in the digit world, e.g. robots and virtual reality. All chapters are so interesting. Everything is so easy to understand! A must on everyone's bucket reading list!
May 26, 2020
Part of my morning routine was to read a page or two of this book.
Took me almost a year, but I finally finished it.
Simple and comical explanations of mechanics and inventions.
Great way for kids (and adults) to learn how things work.
Loved the expanded sections on electronics and computing.
Took me almost a year, but I finally finished it.
Simple and comical explanations of mechanics and inventions.
Great way for kids (and adults) to learn how things work.
Loved the expanded sections on electronics and computing.
December 21, 2022
This book is an excellent summary of how things work. It’s got tons of pictures! However, sometimes they stay too high level… it makes understanding conceptually difficult. For things I didn’t know I found it helpful, for some things that I knew how they worked I found it seemingly complicated.
December 1, 2024
Updated and improved since being my favorite book as a little human. Wow stuff is a lot more complicated than it used to be. Makes me feel tremendously old.
Also, it’s hilarious. The Mammoths are great.
Also, it’s hilarious. The Mammoths are great.
October 4, 2025
I have not done the whole thing, but I read part of it a long time ago, and I'm yet to get over my second hand frustration for the way they treated that poor mammoth. They showed it a video of a cute girl mammth, and he was so happy until he found out it was fake. (It was meant to be funny btw)
January 2, 2017
Terrific explanations and packed with info. I'm including this in my physics curriculum (www.guesthollow.com).
October 29, 2017
Great book that explains how so many varied things work. Kids of all ages (and adults) will love this.
August 13, 2018
Wow! Thorough, accessible to understand the concepts, fantastic intro to physics, anyone who thinks they might engineer, and so funny!
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October 14, 2019This is exactly like all the others in the series except this time with modern products.
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January 15, 2020contains mammoths
February 7, 2020
Amazing book that everybody should have in their house. I wish I had this when I was a kid or young adult, but even know I appreciate Kate it immensely. Well done.
June 12, 2020
This book is really helpful to show you how everyday things work.
December 11, 2020
Re-familiarizing myself with the updates since my childhood version 1. Still great; still awesome.
August 26, 2017
David Macaulay is a genius at simplifying complex concepts. In The Way Things Work, he explained how hundreds of examples of technology actually work from simple levers, pulleys, and wheel to complex technology such as automotive transmissions and lasers. This edition has been revised and updated. If your library has either of the two previous editions (1998 and 1988), this is your chance to update. Changes include added entries on: drones, digital video, blu-ray players, e-readers, and smartphones. The biggest modernization comes in the chapter on “The Digital Domain”, with the inclusion of new technology such as touchscreens, hard disk storage, barcodes, the world wide web, and speech recognition. Illustrations by Neil Ardley handily clarify the text. This is a “must have” resource for all school libraries.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews