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 Book cover for The Way Things Work | |
| Author | David Macaulay Neil Ardley |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Macaulay |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Educational |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 0-395-42857-2 |
| OCLC | 17917341 |
| 600 19 | |
| LC Class | T47 .M18 1988 |
The Way Things Work is a 1988 nonfiction book by David Macaulay with technical text by Neil Ardley. It is a whimsical introduction to everyday machines and the scientific principles behind their operation, 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 from a mysterious inventor of the mammoths' (fictive) role in the operation. The book's concept was later developed into two short-lived animated TV shows (the former produced by Millimages[1] and distributed by Schlessinger Media, and the latter produced by Children's Television Workshop and Film Roman), a Dorling Kindersley interactive CD-ROM (including a spin-off pinball game, Pinball Science), 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.
- ^ "Television - The Way Things Work". Millimages. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 18 November 2008.