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The Way Things Really Work:
Provides humorous explanations and clever illustrations for common conundrums, such as why Chinese food always tastes the same, why the soda machine always eats quarters, and how levers and pulleys actually work. 50,000 first printing.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1993
3 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Henry N. Beard
111 books38 followersHenry N. Beard (born ca. 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine National Lampoon and the author of several best-selling books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 14, 2026
Nothing like parody to keep you smiling.
January 3, 2018
My dad bought this for me years ago. He confused this title with The Way Things Work by David Macaulay and I'm glad he did. While no true explanation for the snafus included here are to be found, many of the "behind the scenes" sound eerily plausible (I'm looking at you, jellied toast trajectories).
November 27, 2009
A collection of illustrated sections on completely imaginary ways things work, I didn't find this as amusing as I'd hoped. The ideas are a little too dated, and some of them weren't even chuckle-worthy.
April 29, 2012
Short, light, sarcastic and full of witticisms and humor. If you need a break and you need to laugh, this is the book for you. Easy read......completed within one hour.
September 4, 2014
wonderful like an old Rube Goldberg cartoon
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews