The Way We Work

Having explored and exploded almost every type of building and machine, the hugely inventive illustrator David Macaulay now turns his attention to the body and how it works. Macaulay has worked alongside co-author Richard Walker, but he has also immersed himself in research, sitting in on anatomy classes, dissections and surgical operations to understand the internal workings of the body. The resulting book is an impressively detailed guide to the body from the composition of individual cells to the creation of new life and the birth of a child. Yet somehow, in spite of Macaulay’s obvious fascination with the subject matter, the confidence and humour of The Way Things Work is rarely glimpsed in these more pastel pages. The busily populated scenes of the earlier books with their strong graphic style are now replaced by giant renditions of internal organs, platelets and muscle tissue, and the engaging mammoth of TWTW makes just a single appearance. Different treatments of illustration, for example of the inner ear, are occasionally hard to interpret, and a lack of captioning means that it is sometimes necessary to read a whole spread to understand a single image. This is not a general introduction for readers without some basic knowledge of human biology. The text is detailed, with some 50 odd pages covering cell structure, DNA molecules and connective tissue for example, while the language used is often complex (‘Replication begins when a molecular contraption built primarily of enzymes assembles itself around one end of a DNA molecule…’). As a result this ambitious book will have an audience with adults as well as children of 11 and upwards.