The New Way Things Work

When Macaulay’s original mammoth volume emerged 11 years ago it was an instant hit and still remains a household favourite. Its total absence of ambiguous photographs and ‘technical’ illustration marked it out as an exceptionally friendly users’ guide to the machinery that serves our daily round and assists our common task; and it furnished neatly all we needed to ask it. Authors and publishers must have known then that if this book were any good at all it would need updating before long and here, sure enough is that update.

It is not, thank goodness, a new ‘improved’ re-write. Macaulay’s original was virtually unimprovable (given that you can tolerate his mammoth leitmotif). A new 60-page chunk has been added called the ‘Digital Domain’ which brings in all the computer-centred developments that illuminate our present way of living. That this is as easy to understand as the rest is due in no small measure to the interpretive skills of Macaulay’s co-pilot, Ardley – unsung hero of the first edition but given greater credit here as provider of ‘all the technical text’. This means that Ardley really deserves equal billing with Macaulay as the source of everything that makes this so gratifying a read and so welcome a new edition (even if it does not explain the bagless vacuum cleaner).