The Way Things Work is a book by David Macaulay

David Macaulay

David Macaulay is an author and illustrator. Now a resident of Norwich, Vermont, United States, he is an alumnus and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design.- Biography :...

. It is intended to serve as an entertaining introduction to everyday machine

Machine

A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...

s. It covers machines as simple as lever

Lever

In physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...

s and gear

Gear

A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....

s and as complicated as radio telescope

Radio telescope

A radio telescope is a form of directional radio antenna used in radio astronomy. The same types of antennas are also used in tracking and collecting data from satellites and space probes...

s and automatic transmission

Automatic transmission

An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...

s. Its most notable feature is its illustrations: every page consists primarily of one or more large diagrams describing the operation of the relevant machine. These diagrams are informative but playful; most feature the internal workings of the machines being operated by woolly mammoth

Woolly mammoth

The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...

s. The book's concept was later developed into a short-lived animated TV show

The Way Things Work (TV Series)

The Way Things Work was a short-lived television series based on the best-selling book of the same name by David Macaulay. The series was co-produced by Millimages and Schlessinger Media; it was distributed by the latter. The program ran daily on BBC2 and CBBC from 2001 to early 2002, before it was...

 (produced by Millimages http://www.millimages.com/site/tv/prod.php?lang=en&tv_id=6 and distributed by Schlessinger Media), a Dorling Kindersley

Dorling Kindersley

Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....

 interactive CD-ROM, and a board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

. A family "ride" involving animatronics

Animatronics

Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...

 and a 3-D film

3-D film

A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...

 based on the book was one of the original attractions at the San Francisco Metreon

Metreon

The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story 350,000 square foot building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention center...

, 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 microchips. It also lacks two pages from the first edition; one page demonstrated the working of a mechanical coin-operated parking meter.

Table of Contents for The New Way Things Work

Part One--The Mechanics of Movement

• Introduction
  Introduction (essay)
  An introduction is a beginning section which states the purpose and goals of the following writing. The introduction is usually interesting and it intrigues the reader and causes him or her to want to read on. The sentence in which the introduction begins can be a question or just a statement...
  
  
• The Inclined Plane
  Inclined plane
  The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. By moving an object up an inclined plane rather than completely vertical, the amount of force required is reduced, at the expense of increasing the...
  
  
• Levers
  Lever
  In physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...
  
  
• The Wheel
  Wheel
  A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
  
   and Axle
  Axle
  An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...
  
  
• Gears and Belts
  Belt (mechanical)
  A belt is a loop of flexible material used to link two or more rotating shafts mechanically. Belts may be used as a source of motion, to transmit power efficiently, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys. In a two pulley system, the belt can either drive the pulleys in the...
  
  
• Cams and Cranks
• Pulleys
• Screws
• Rotating Wheels
• Springs
  Spring (device)
  A spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication...
  
  
• Friction
  Friction
  Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:...
  
  

Part Two--Harnessing the Elements

• Introduction
• Floating
• Flying
  Flight
  Flight is the process by which an object moves either through an atmosphere or beyond it by generating lift or propulsive thrust, or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement....
  
  
• Pressure Power
• Exploiting Heat
  Heat
  In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
  
  
• Nuclear Power
  Nuclear power
  Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
  
  

Part Three--Working with Waves

• Introduction
• Light
  Light
  Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
  
   and Images
• Photography
  Photography
  Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
  
  

• Printing
  Printing
  Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
  
  
• Sound
  Sound
  Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
  
   and Music
  Music
  Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
  
  
• Telecommunications

Part Four--Electricity and Automation

• Introduction
• Electricity
  Electricity
  Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
  
  
• Magnetism
  Magnetism
  Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
  
  
• 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
  Houghton Mifflin
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is an educational and trade publisher in the United States. Headquartered in Boston's Back Bay, it publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults.-History:The company was...
  
  . ISBN 0395428572.
• Dorling Kindersley
  Dorling Kindersley
  Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
  
  , 2004. ISBN 1405302380.