- For the Unknown Instructors album, please refer to "The Way Things Work (album)"
The Way Things Work is a book by David Macaulay. It is intended to serve as an entertaining introduction to everyday machines. It covers machines as simple as levers and gears and as complicated as radio telescopes and automatic transmissions. Its most notable feature is its illustrations: every page consists primarily of one or more large diagrams describing the operation of the relevant machine. These diagrams are informative but playful; most feature the internal workings of the machines being operated by woolly mammoths. The book's concept was later developed into a short-lived animated TV show, a Dorling Kindersley interactive CD-ROM, and a board game.
 Book cover for The Way Things Work | |
| Author | David Macaulay |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Educational |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0395428572 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The New Way Things Work
A newer version, The New Way Things Work, released on October 26, 1998, contains additional text on the workings of microchips.
One edition, published by Houghton Mifflin, has ISBN 0395428572. Latest edition, published by Dorling Kindersley in 2004. ISBN 1405302380.
Table of Contents for The New Way Things Work
Part One--The Mechanics of Movement
- Introduction
- The Inclined Plane
- Levers
- The Wheel and Axle
- Gears and Belts
- Cams and Cranks
- Pulleys
- Screws
- Rotating Wheels
- Springs
- Friction
Part Two--Harnessing the Elements
- Introduction
- Floating
- Flying
- Pressure Power
- Exploiting Heat
- Nuclear Power
Part Three--Working with Waves
- Introduction
- Light and Images
- Photography
Part Four--Electricity and Automation
- Introduction
- Electricity
- Magnetism
- Sensors and Detectors
Part Five--The Digital Domain
- Making Bits
- Storing Bits
- Processing Bits
- Sending Bits
- Using Bits/Digital Systems
- Epilog
Eureka!--The Invention of Machines
Technical Terms
Index
Trivia
- At the end of The New Way Things Work, there is a section called Eureka! It explains the history of machines, from the simple invention of the wedge to very modern invention of robots.
- At the beginning of the chapter The Digital Domain, the mammoth meets the man behind the digital ___domain, Bill. A line follows that states, "Mammoth cautiously entered Bill's gates," refering to Bill Gates.
- The New Way Things Work has exactly 400 pages, excluding the ones made of construction paper. The last word is "Vladimir".
- The chapter about nuclear power is the only chapter that does not have a live mammoth in it (however, there is a nuclear concrete mammoth).
- A family "ride" involving animatronics and a 3-D film based on the book was one of the original attractions at the San Francisco Metreon, but closed in 2001.
- The New the Way Things Work removed two pages; one page demonstrated the working of a mechanical coin-operated parking meter.