''The Way Things Work'' is a 1988 nonfiction book by

David Macaulay David Macaulay (born 2 December 1946) is a British-born American illustrator and writer. His works include ''Cathedral'' (1973), '' The Way Things Work'' (1988) and ''The New Way Things Work'' (1998). His illustrations have been featured in ...

with technical text by

Neil Ardley Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music. Early years Neil Ardley ...

. It is an entertaining introduction to everyday machines and the scientific principles behind their operation, describing machines as simple as

lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...

s and

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic ...

s and as complicated as radio telescopes and

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

s. 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 mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...

s, and are accompanied by anecdotes from a mysterious inventor of the mammoths' (fictive) role in the operation. The book's concept was later developed into a short-lived animated

TV show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

(produced by

Millimages Millimages is a French independent animation studio based in Paris which develops, produces and worldwide distributes high quality family entertainment on all media. In 2016, Millimages has been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award ...

and distributed by

Schlessinger Media , he, שלזינגר), Slesinger, Slezak, Ślęzak ; Similar surnames: * Schleußinger ( Schleussinger, Schleusinger, from Schleusingen) , footnotes Schlessinger is a German language, German surname meaning "from Silesia" (German: ''Schlesien ...

), a

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

interactive CD-ROM (including a spin-off pinball game, ''Pinball Science''), and a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

. A family "ride" involving animatronics and a 3-D film based on the book was one of the original attractions at the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Metreon The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco, California, United States at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention cen ...

, but closed in 2001.

''The New Way Things Work''

A revised and updated version, ''The New Way Things Work'', released on October 26, 1998, contains additional text on the workings of computers and digital technology. A number of pages were dropped, among them a two-page demonstration of a mechanical coin-operated parking meter and the original descriptions of computing. The original's computing section included four pages explaining the workings of a pocket calculator and the distinctions between a calculator and a general-purpose computer, and four pages on binary arithmetic, logical AND and OR gates, and how these are assembled into a

half adder An adder, or summer, is a digital circuit that performs addition of numbers. In many computers and other kinds of processors adders are used in the arithmetic logic units (ALUs). They are also used in other parts of the processor, where they are ...

and

full adder An adder, or summer, is a digital circuit that performs addition of numbers. In many computers and other kinds of processors adders are used in the arithmetic logic units (ALUs). They are also used in other parts of the processor, where they are ...

; these were replaced with entirely new art and more detailed descriptions, with a longer story, 'The Last Mammoth', depicting a lonely mammoth invited to visit the 'Digital Domain' by its proprietor

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

,https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Way_Things_Work_Now/EuLxDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA310, "warily entered Bill's gates" which uses the mammoth's assistance and a humorous pumpkin-and-apple-based mechanical computer to create a video depiction of a community of mammoths. Like the previous version, a CD-ROM version was released.

''The Way Things Work Now''

A substantially revised edition, ''The Way Things Work Now'', was published in October 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Dorling Kindersley.

Contents for ''The New Way Things Work''

While the individual sections and subsections are changed in ''The Way Things Work Now'', the structure and Table of Contents remain the same. * Part One — The Mechanics of Movement: ''

Introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

'', ''The

Inclined Plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

'', ''

Lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...

s'', ''The Wheel and Axle'', ''

Gears A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...

and Belts'', ''

Cam Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...

s and Cranks'', ''

Pulleys A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that d ...

'', '' Screws'', '' Rotating Wheels'', '' Springs'', ''

Friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...

'' * Part Two — Harnessing the Elements: ''Introduction'', '' Floating'', '' Flying'', ''Pressure Power'', ''Exploiting

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

'', ''

Nuclear Power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

'' * Part Three — Working with Waves: ''Introduction'', ''

Light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

and Images'', ''

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

'', ''

Printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

'', ''

Sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

and

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

'', ''

Telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

'' * Part Four — Electricity and Automation: ''Introduction'', ''

Electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

'', '' Magnetism'', ''Sensors and Detectors'' * Part Five — The Digital Domain: ''Making Bits'', ''Storing Bits'', ''Processing Bits'', ''Sending Bits'', ''Using Bits'', ''Epilogue'' * ''Eureka!'' — The Invention of Machines With a glossary of technical terms and an index at the back of the book.

Publishing history

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 1988. . *

, 1998. . *

, 2004. . *

, 2016. . *

, 2016. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Way Things Work, The 1988 children's books Children's non-fiction books Infographics Books about elephants Works about technology Houghton Mifflin books