Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining look at how machines work!
Review: "The Way Things Work" took almost three years to create. A cute and sometimes silly "Great Wooly Mammoth" makes his appearance throughout the book. The facial expressions and animal antics are at times very amusing. While the "Mammoth" theme is highlighted, this is a book which discusses serious concepts. They are simply explained in a more entertaining way. In between all the facts, you will suddenly find a page which discusses tusk trimming. "I watched with great curiosity a mammoth that was having its tusks trimmed....." Don't worry, as the story progresses, "velocity" is being explained. Quite frankly, this book is not only a work of art, it is a compilation of genius. When David Macaulay, Niel Ardley, David Burnie, Peter Luff and Christopher Davis put their minds together for a book project, something amazing happens. Where they came up with the 384 pages is beyond my comprehension. In fact, only taking three years to write and illustrate such a work, is in itself an incredible feat. Truly, this is a comprehensive, instructive and entertaining reference book for readers of all ages. Life is too short for reading inferior books. - James Bryce This book is superior in so many ways. It is divided into four main sections: The Mechanics of Movement (inclined plane, levers, wheel and axle, gears and belts, cams and cranks, pulleys, screws, rotating wheels, springs, friction), Harnessing The Elements (floating, flying, pressure power, exploiting heat, nuclear power), Working With Waves (light and images, photography, printing, sound and music, telecommunications), Electricity & Automation (electricity, magnetism, sensors and detectors, computers). Each page is filled with drawings so you can completely comprehend mechanical principles. David Macaulay takes you from levers to lasers and does it all in a most entertaining and efficient manner. Here is a prize-winning author's brilliantly conceived guide to the principles and workings of hundreds of machines.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining look at how machines work!
Review: "The Way Things Work" took almost three years to create. A cute and sometimes silly "Great Wooly Mammoth" makes his appearance throughout the book. The facial expressions and animal antics are at times very amusing. While the "Mammoth" theme is highlighted, this is a book which discusses serious concepts. They are simply explained in a more entertaining way. In between all the facts, you will suddenly find a page which discusses tusk trimming. "I watched with great curiosity a mammoth that was having its tusks trimmed....." Don't worry, as the story progresses, "velocity" is being explained. Quite frankly, this book is not only a work of art, it is a compilation of genius. When David Macaulay, Niel Ardley, David Burnie, Peter Luff and Christopher Davis put their minds together for a book project, something amazing happens. Where they came up with the 384 pages is beyond my comprehension. In fact, only taking three years to write and illustrate such a work, is in itself an incredible feat. Truly, this is a comprehensive, instructive and entertaining reference book for readers of all ages. Life is too short for reading inferior books. - James Bryce This book is superior in so many ways. It is divided into four main sections: The Mechanics of Movement (inclined plane, levers, wheel and axle, gears and belts, cams and cranks, pulleys, screws, rotating wheels, springs, friction), Harnessing The Elements (floating, flying, pressure power, exploiting heat, nuclear power), Working With Waves (light and images, photography, printing, sound and music, telecommunications), Electricity & Automation (electricity, magnetism, sensors and detectors, computers). Each page is filled with drawings so you can completely comprehend mechanical principles. David Macaulay takes you from levers to lasers and does it all in a most entertaining and efficient manner. Here is a prize-winning author's brilliantly conceived guide to the principles and workings of hundreds of machines.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining look at how machines work!
Review: "The Way Things Work" took almost three years to create. A cute and sometimes silly "Great Wooly Mammoth" makes his appearance throughout the book. The facial expressions and animal antics are at times very amusing. While the "Mammoth" theme is highlighted, this is a book which discusses serious concepts. They are simply explained in a more entertaining way. In between all the facts, you will suddenly find a page which discusses tusk trimming. "I watched with great curiosity a mammoth that was having its tusks trimmed....." Don't worry, as the story progresses, "velocity" is being explained. Quite frankly, this book is not only a work of art, it is a compilation of genius. When David Macaulay, Niel Ardley, David Burnie, Peter Luff and Christopher Davis put their minds together for a book project, something amazing happens. Where they came up with the 384 pages is beyond my comprehension. In fact, only taking three years to write and illustrate such a work, is in itself an incredible feat. Truly, this is a comprehensive, instructive and entertaining reference book for readers of all ages. Life is too short for reading inferior books. - James Bryce This book is superior in so many ways. It is divided into four main sections: The Mechanics of Movement (inclined plane, levers, wheel and axle, gears and belts, cams and cranks, pulleys, screws, rotating wheels, springs, friction), Harnessing The Elements (floating, flying, pressure power, exploiting heat, nuclear power), Working With Waves (light and images, photography, printing, sound and music, telecommunications), Electricity & Automation (electricity, magnetism, sensors and detectors, computers). Each page is filled with drawings so you can completely comprehend mechanical principles. David Macaulay takes you from levers to lasers and does it all in a most entertaining and efficient manner. Here is a prize-winning author's brilliantly conceived guide to the principles and workings of hundreds of machines.
Rating:
Summary: A book that belongs in every house with kids.
Review: Anyone with children in their life, or a child-like heart will enjoy this book. It is not just for kids, but it answers many of the questions that only kids think to ask. How do toilets flush, what makes zippers zip, and sewing machines sew? How do seat belts work? What about submarines and airplanes? The book begins with simple machines and works up to complicated ones. For older children it can be a useful homework reference. But this is more than a reference book. The drawings and explanations are not only clear, they are entertaining. Throughout the book there is a series of ingenious vignettes describing the interaction of wooly mammoths and machines. Mammoths dressed in hot air balloons. Mammoths functioning as computers (answering questions by dropping the appropriate number of logs, which gets cumbersome.) The result is a book that can be a marvelous bedtime story or mid-afternoon browsing book, as well as a reference book for those awkward questions. Kids as young as three or four will enjoy some parts of this book, while adults will still be intrigued by some of the explanations. This is a book for teachers, parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to have on their shelves, both to answer questions and to encourage them.
Rating:
Summary: Still fun after all these years
Review: I have loved David Macaulay's books since I was a kid. Though I've grown up, I am still facinated by his unique way of explaining things we take for granted. The Way Things Work is a road map for today's highly confusing and intimidating technological times. It allows you to gain a glimpse of the wonder of engineering, from the very simple, to the most complex.
Rating:
Summary: Rekindle your awe of the world....
Review: I have read David Macaulay's work since I was a child. Though I've grown up (I'm 29), I am still facinated by his unique way of explaining that which we take for granted. 'The Way Things Work' is a road map for today's highly confusing and intimidating technological times. It allows you to gain a glimpse at the wonder of engineering, from the very simple, to the most complex.
Rating: 
Summary: great idea but very poor execution
Review: it's a very poorly designed kit. parents have to do a LOT of it. Macaulay should have teamed up with LEGO to create his kit. the cool thing is it has a MOTOR in there, and some plunger things with long plastic tubes to make a pneumatic lift arm. but the construction parts (including wheels) are basically all cardboard! if anything gets slightly bent or stepped on, the whole project is history. durability is nil. the instructions suck: you cannot follow the numbered paragraphs and build it, you have to read through all the aside comments to do it properly, and the instructional photos are very poorly posed. if LEGO had done it (I'm thinking of the the Klutz press/LEGO teamwork for the Action Contraptions set) they would have broken down the steps accurately, and done photos that kids could follow. you cannot even put the wheels on without major adult participation. the stickum provided doesn't adhere well to the parts it says to attach it to. "friction" is one of the concepts presented, yet friction of cardboard parts interferes with finished product operation. If LEGO had participated, the parts would be durable, they would assemble easily, the finished products would work smoothly, a kid could put it together and self-explore the scientific concepts, and it would be brilliant. The kit's ideas of the things to present (friction, pneumatics, simple machines, etc.) is EXCELLENT. there is very little else on the market that presents these concepts well in a building set. the narrative that explains the physics concepts is well written in simple, understandable terms. it is very cool that the kids get to read about something and build it. but I am sooooo disappointed that the building materials were so poorly designed. it was a cool idea that was very poorly executed.
Rating: 
Summary: They don't Work
Review: The book is interesting & I was really excited about the models & getting a chance to make things work. But, they did not Work! The biggest disapointment was the motor, I connected all the wires & made all the contacts properly & nothing happened. The wheels woobled on the dowels & when I attached the baloon to power the car with air, it turned over instead of moving forward. I tried very hard to make things work, but they did not.
Rating:
Summary: They don't Work
Review: The book is interesting & I was really excited about the models & getting a chance to make things work. But, they did not Work! The biggest disapointment was the motor, I connected all the wires & made all the contacts properly & nothing happened. The wheels woobled on the dowels & when I attached the baloon to power the car with air, it turned over instead of moving forward. I tried very hard to make things work, but they did not.
Rating:
Summary: An Educational Comedy
Review: The Way Things Work by David MacAulay is an encyclopedia of technology hidden in a children's book. The illustrations are designed to encapsulate each description for children, but the text is fashioned in such a way that both the child and the adult can glean differing levels of understanding from it. The aspect of humor is used to make the information more palatable, and was one of the most endearing parts of the book. One of the best features of this book is its exceptional illustrations done in pen and ink involving cavemen and woolly mammoths. I was expecting to buy a juvenille explanation of simplistic household objects and got a book that I repeatedly borrowed from its recipient to read for myself (much to his chagrin). I was quite impressed and would reccomend this book to anyone looking to purchase an in-depth "But Why?" book for a youngster or an enjoyable plain-english technology manual for adults.
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