The New Way Things Work

What Hacker News says

1. ambicapterJul 2026
   This book is probably 90% of my understanding of how why so many transistors can add up to a CPU, and I didn't learn any programming for a good ten years after I pored through that book as a kid (for me it was "The new way things work", updated for the computer age).
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2. zavecSep 2025
   I can't remember exactly, but I think there was some kind of light story element to "The New Way Things Work"

   Edit: just noticed the bit about not reliant on pictures, that rules that one out. I recommend it regardless, but maybe not for the exact use-case you're describing

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3. xeonaxMay 2023
   The New Way Things Work, not a textbook per se. It's an encyclopaedia. But it taught so many things.
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4. drewzero1Feb 2021
   Did you have The Way Things Work or The New Way Things Work? I had the latter around the same time. I thought the extended computer section (Bill's Gates!) was very helpful. I still really like the visual in which the image of a mammoth is turned into a series of pumpkin/no pumpkin signals being launched through the air, then becomes a picture of a mammoth on the other side of the field. I think it got a bit too technical for me when it started showing how transistors are constructed-- I guess I should've stuck with the pumpkins.

   Now I have both editions and have looked through them side-by-side. It's a bit unfortunate that some pages were dropped to make room for the expanded digital section in the newer edition, but well worth the trade-off for more/better explanations in the digital realm.

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5. ilikebitsAug 2016
   My favourite is "The New Way Things Work" by David Macaulay. Loved this book as a kid, it really got me into trying to figure out how the world worked (the title really nailed it).
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6. GHFigsMay 2011
   The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. The way it mixes comic illustration, simplified explanation of everyday things, and fictional narrative is deeply engaging to curious minds but also very forgiving of a child's fickle attention. I'm within arm's reach of the copy I was given almost twenty years ago.

   http://www.amazon.com/New-Way-Things-Work/dp/0395938473

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