How Things Work 2nd Edition

Book excerpt: Have you ever looked at a car and wondered how it worked? Maybe an airplane piqued your curiosity, or the arches of a particular building, or maybe a piece of technology that you handle daily, such as your phone? Objects, history, places, processes... all fall under the umbrella of "thing." Learn about how these things developed over time and how they impacted the course of human development. From ancient chariots of war, to the telegraph, to the technologies of the future, learn about the mechanics of the world around us. With full color cross sections, this new and revised version of How Things Work updates readers on questions of the ever-evolving world around us. More than 100 "things" are dissected so that one can examine the inner workings from milk production to touch screens. The book is broken categorically into ten sections (Ancient Civilizations, Architecture, Communication, Energy, Everyday Technology, Food Industry, Machines of War, Science, Space Exploration, Transportation), readers are given a complete education on the mechanics of the world around them. Each chapter has eleven subjects that are dissected through diagrams and cross sections with cut away images to show what is really under the surface of each item and process. A thematic index at the end allows one to easily locate all items of interest. The world is a complex and confusing place. How Things Work does it's best to bring down the confusion a little bit.