Editorial Review
Contains 50 fun experiments!
David Macaulay's The Way things Work has demystified science and technology for a huge audience. Now, building on the phenomenal successes of The New Way Things Work, The Way Things Work CD-ROM, and Pinball Science CD-ROM, comes the latest in the series, The Way Things Work Kit. Children can enjoy David Macaulay's humorous approach and create a selection of innovative models with this unique interactive kit. A stunningly simple range of basic components fit together to create a fantastic set of working models that move, lift, push, pump, and much more. This kit contains scales, a sail-powered land yacht, a pneumatic earth mover, a winch, a hoist, a belt-driven fairground ride, a simple vehicle, a balloon-powered car, a propeller-powered car, an electric racing car, a pneumatic robot arm, and a windmill. The Way Things Work Kit is an inventor's workshop for budding young scientists, engineers, and anyone who wants to know how things work. The kit contains: tons, dowels, and discs combine to produce 12 fantastic working models ular fighters in World Championship Wrestling. It gives the reader an unprecedented look behind the scenes of WCW, revealing how each show is put together and what training the wrestlers have to go through before they can set foot in the ring. With unlimited access to the archives at WCW headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Dorling Kindersley has been able to combine never-before-seen images with a fact-packed text to create an invaluable book for the wrestling fan.
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Customer Reviews
My review on The Way Things Work 
2000-04-22
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.
This Book Is Great! 
2000-03-21
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!
An inspiring and funny resource for everyone 1998-06-18
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.
An Educational Comedy 1998-03-22
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.
Rekindle your awe of the world.... 1998-03-21
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.
Disappointing! Models don't work! 
2003-01-17
We find Macaulay's books intriguing and so proceeded to order the kit for our 11 year old daughter. She loves science, does experiments on her own at home, elects to attend science camps every summer, and wants to be an engineer. She found the instruction cards attractive and easy to follow BUT "half the things didn't work" and "it was boring". She was extremely disappointed with the kit as she painstakingly followed instructions, and attempted to troubleshoot and adapt the models when she found they wouldn't work. My husband and I are an electrical engineer and a physician respectively, and we too were unable to shed any light on the problems she was having. We definitely would advise parents NOT to buy this kit.
Still fun after all these years 2002-11-05
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.
great idea but very poor execution 2002-05-19
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.
Perfect for snow days 2001-02-06
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.
They don't Work 
2001-01-15
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.
