Way Things Work Now : From Levers to Lasers, Windmills to Wi-fi, a Visual Guide to the World of Machines

As seen on CBS News Sunday Morning.

Explainer-in-Chief David Macaulay updates his worldwide bestseller to capture the latest developments in the technology that most impacts our lives. What possible link could there be between parking meters and meat grinders, jumbo jets and jackhammers, remote control and rockets, electric guitars and egg beaters? Macaulay explains them all!

Famously packed with information on the inner workings of everything from windmills to Wi-Fi, this extraordinary and humorous book both guides readers through the fundamental principles of machines and shows how the developments of the past are building blocks of the world of tomorrow. This sweepingly revised edition embraces recent technological developments, from touchscreens to 3D printers. Each scientific principle is brilliantly explained, with the help of a charming, if rather slow-witted, woolly mammoth.

An illustrated survey of significant inventions closes the book, along with a glossary of technical terms and an index.

A New York Times Bestseller

David Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies in the United States alone, and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, an American Institute of Architects Medal, and the Washington Post–Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, given “to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.” Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. David Macaulay lives with his family in Vermont.