Customer Reviews

The Way Things Work Kit

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book gives a great overview of how simple and complicated mechanical devices work. It really helped me for school projects, and is just a fun book to read. It's a great book for kids and adults alike, if you buy it you won't regret it. Two thumbs up!

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.

The Way Things Work explains how ordinary and unordinary objects work. For example you would never think that a fission bomb would implod before it exploded or that a red piece of paper is red because it reflects cyan and yellow light. It gives detailed explanation of the forces and energies used in that device. It also gives fictional stories about how that energy and/or force could be used.

Whether you are a mechanical engineer or a philosopher, The Way Things Work will teach you everything you want to know about a wide variety of modern devices. The art is beautiful, technically correct, and humorous. Buy it for your children AND for yourself.

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.

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.

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.

When snow struck and my two boys were out with a snow day I gave them this kit and they loved it! It kept them busy for hours and saved my sanity. They had such fun that they didn't want to go back to school.

I think it's safe to say that this is a great book for any kid, whether they're interested in science and technology or not. I certainly wasn't interested, and yet I loved paging through this book, plus I also remember that it was very popular with my classmates as well. It's just a fun book (that will--shhhh!--teach you something).

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.