The Way Things Work

For the Unknown Instructors album, please refer to "The Way Things Work (album)"

The Way Things Work

Book cover for The Way Things Work
Author	Neil Ardley
Language	English
Genre	Educational
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Publication date	1988
Publication place	United States
Pages	400
ISBN	0-395-42857-2
OCLC	17917341
Dewey Decimal	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.

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 computers and digital technology. It also lacks two pages of the first edition; one page demonstrated the working of a mechanical coin-operated parking meter.

The Way Things Work Now

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

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
• Printing
• Sound and Music
• Telecommunications

Part Four—Electricity and Automation

• Introduction
• Electricity
• Magnetism
• Sensors and Detectors

Part Five—The Digital Domain

• Making Binary digits
• Storing Bits
• Processing Bits
• Sending Bits
• Using Bits/Digital Systems
• Epilog

Eureka!—The Invention of Machines

Technical Terms

Index

Publishing history

• Houghton Mifflin, 1988. ISBN 0-395-42857-2.
• Houghton Mifflin, 1998. ISBN 0-395-93847-3.
• Dorling Kindersley, 2004. ISBN 1-4053-0238-0.