How does a train stay on the tracks? What’s going on inside a pogo stick? How do cranes work? And what happens when you flush a toilet? These and many more important questions are answered in this fascinating book. From toasters and telephones to hovercrafts and robots – the inner workings of machines big and small are brought to light using a stunning mix of cross-sections, close-ups and cutaways.

How does a train stay on the tracks? What's going on inside a pogo stick? How do cranes work? And what happens when you flush a toilet? These and many more important questions are answered in this fascinating book. From toasters and telephones to hovercrafts and robots - the inner workings of machines big and small are brought to light using a stunning mix of cross-sections, close-ups and cutaways.

Million-copy bestselling author of The Elements, Molecules, and Reactions Theodore Gray applies his trademark mix of engaging stories, real-time experiments, and stunning photography to the inner workings of machines, big and small, revealing the extraordinary science, beauty, and rich history of everyday things. Theodore Gray has become a household name among fans, both young and old, of popular science and mechanics. He's an incorrigible tinkerer with a constant curiosity for how things work. Gray's readers love how he always brings the perfect combination of know-how, humor, and daring-do to every project or demonstration, be it scientific or mechanical.In How Things Work he explores the mechanical underpinnings of dozens of types of machines and mechanisms, from the cotton gin to the wristwatch to an industrial loom. Filled with stunning original photographs in Gray's inimitable style, How Things Work is a must-have exploration of stuff--large and small--for any builder, maker or lover of mechanical things.

Explains the inner workings of a variety of modern inventions, including the washing machine, personal stereo, video recorder, toaster and hair dryer. Suggested level: primary, intermediate, junior secondary.

This book provides illustrations and fold-out pictures of machines that are used in a city.

In 1909 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, on his way back to South Africa from London, wrote his now celebrated tract Hind Swaraj, laying out his vision for the future of India and famously rejecting the technological innovations of Western civilization. Despite his protestations, Western technology endured and helped to make India one of the leading economies in our globalized world. Few would question the dominant role that technology plays in modern life, but to fully understand how India first advanced into technological modernity, argues David Arnold, we must consider the technology of the everyday. Everyday Technology is a pioneering account of how small machines and consumer goods that originated in Europe and North America became objects of everyday use in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rather than investigate “big” technologies such as railways and irrigation projects, Arnold examines the assimilation and appropriation of bicycles, rice mills, sewing machines, and typewriters in India, and follows their impact on the ways in which people worked and traveled, the clothes they wore, and the kind of food they ate. But the effects of these machines were not limited to the daily rituals of Indian society, and Arnold demonstrates how such small-scale technologies became integral to new ways of thinking about class, race, and gender, as well as about the politics of colonial rule and Indian nationhood. Arnold’s fascinating book offers new perspectives on the globalization of modern technologies and shows us that to truly understand what modernity became, we need to look at the everyday experiences of people in all walks of life, taking stock of how they repurposed small technologies to reinvent their world and themselves.

Use the Magic Lens to reveal the inner workings of the machines all around us

Toddlers love machines and things that go, and this colorful picture book by William Low gives them everything they want, from a cement mixer to a helicopter to a backhoe. Six interactive gatefolds extend the original pictures to three pages, revealing something new about each situation. The final double gatefold opens into a very long train and shows all the machines at work! The last spread provides additional information about each machine for young readers to pore over again and again. William Low's classically trained artist's eye adds a new layer to this genre—both parents and children will appreciate the beautiful illustrations, the attention to detail, and the clever situational twists revealed by lifting the flaps of Machines Go to Work. The sequel, Machines Go to Work in the City, continues the interactive fun with more amazing illustrations, details, and information for everyone to enjoy. “The richly colored pages of Machines Go to Work probably could not be more exactly calibrated to entrance the vehicle-oriented, 2-to-6-year-old.” —Wall Street Journal

Award-winning artist David Macaulay introduces readers to his hilarious new creations, Sloth and Sengi, in How Machines Work: Zoo Break! Get your cogs turning with these mega machines! This amazing, award-winning visual guide showcases the science and technology behind the most important machines ever invented. How Machines Work is a unique book full of inspiring illustrations by award-winning artist David Macaulay and packed with interactive elements, including press-out models, pop-ups, and pull-outs. Sloth and his sidekick Sengi are two furry friends on hand to guide you through the book and break down the basics. They’ll give you the lowdown on levers, pulleys, screws, inclined planes, wedges, and wheels on this intrepid adventure. You’ll find out how all different technologies work, from bicycles, cranes, and drills to diggers, hammers, and zips. Along the way, you’ll help Sloth and Sengi plot their daring escape from the zoo using only newfound scientific knowledge to make a machine designed for break outs and break aways. But will they succeed? Grab this essential guide, get your brain in gear, and get set for engineering greatness.

Introduces six simple machines, describing how they work in more complex machinery and how they are used every day.