The Way Things Work
Book cover for The Way Things Work
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| Author | Neil Ardley |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Educational |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
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Publication date
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1988 |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 17917341 |
| 600 19 | |
| LC Class | T47 .M18 1988 |
The Way Things Work is a book by Neil Ardley, illustrated by David Macaulay, as an entertaining introduction to everyday machines, describing machines as simple as levers and gears and as complicated as radio telescopes and automatic transmissions. Every page consists primarily of one or more large diagrams describing the operation of the relevant machine. These diagrams are informative but playful, in that most show the machines operated, used upon, or represented by woolly mammoths, and are accompanied by anecdotes of the mammoths' (fictive) role in the operation. The book's concept was later developed into a short-lived animated TV show (produced by Millimages and distributed by Schlessinger Media), a Dorling Kindersley interactive CD-ROM, and a board game. 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.
A newer version, The New Way Things Work, released on October 26, 1998, contains additional text on the workings of computers and digital technology. It also lacks two pages of the first edition; both of which page demonstrated the working of a mechanical coin-operated parking meter.
A substantially revised edition, The Way Things Work Now, has been published in October 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Dorling Kindersley.
Part One—The Mechanics of Movement
Part Two—Harnessing the Elements
Part Three—Working with Waves
Part Four—Electricity and Automation
Part Five—The Digital Domain
Eureka!—The Invention of Machines
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