Macaulay, David Books

The Way We Work

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this comprehensive and entertaining resource, David Macaulay reveals the inner workings of the human body as only he could. In order to present this complicated subject in an accurate and entertaining way, he put in years of research. He sat in on anatomy classes, dissections, and even reached inside the rib cages of two cadavers to compare their spleen sizes. He observed numerous surgeries, including a ten-hour procedure where a diseased pancreas was removed, as well as one where a worn-out old knee was replaced by a brand new one. This hands-on investigation gives Macaulay a unique perspective to lead his readers on a visual journey through the workings of the human body.

The seven sections within the book take us from the cells that form our foundation to the individual systems they build. Each beautifully illustrated spread details different aspects of our complex structure, explaining the function of each and offering up-close glimpses, unique cross-sections and perspectives, and even a little humor along the way. This one-of-a-kind book can serve as a reference for children, families, teachers, and anyone who has questions about how his or her body works. When readers see how David Macaulay builds a body and explains the way it works, they will come away with a new appreciation of the amazing world inside them.

Amazon Exclusive: Macaulay's Sketches for The Way We Work
(CLICK on Images to Enlarge)

Explore author-artist David Macaulay's creative imagination at work in this collection of intriguing early sketches for the book. Each drawing--which is rendered in colored pencils-- lays out the story of a different system of the body through surprising shifts of scale, color, texture, the insertion of figures, and other intriguing spatial relationships on the page.

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The New Way Things Work

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Ingenuity. Imagination. Depictions. Diagrams. 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Put these four things together--ingenuity, imagination, depictions, diagrams-- and you have a double ID toward understanding how things work. David Macaulay and Neil Ardley put together a magnificent volume for children and children at heart containing a way of understanding the laws of physics and mechanics.

The first illustration even shows God busy creating the rotation of the earth. Then they go to the earth where wooly mammoths lived and pick up one to take us through the history of mechanics, machines, and the like. Dozens of movements in five sections: waves, electricity, automation, digital domain, and machines show us just how easy these things are to understand done in drawerings.

Just as in child's play, there is no seeming order to the arrangement of items in the book. For example here are a few pages next to each other: vacuum cleaners, aqualungs or oxygen tanks, the toilet tank, the water meter, dishwasher, spray nozzle, fire extinguisher. Are you seeing an order? Yes, so am I.

Flipping over a hundred pages, I find the jet engine, rocket engines, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, fallout, nuclear reactor. OK, a definite pattern. Another hundred pages show these topics: movie camera, movie projector, printing, paper making, printing plate, printing press, bookbinding. More discernible order and logical arrangement.

One last check: scanner, bits and bytes, flash memory, magnetic storage, microchip, processor, software. We know where we are and recognize the order--a computer and its parts.

This reviewer has a suggestion for the reader. Once you have this book in hand, take it home, take it out every night and read a comfortable number of pages. If you have a child, read one page, discuss it, put this one away and take out a night-night book to read. If this is just your book, read several pages. By the time you have finished the book, you will have added dozens of operating systems to the computer banks in your own brain, making your child and/or yourself an expert in the way things work.

Editorial Review:

The information age is upon us, baffling us with thousands of complicated state-of-the-art technologies. To help make sense of the computer age, David Macaulay brings us The New Way Things Work. This completely updated and expanded edition describes twelve new machines and includes more than seventy new pages detailing the latest innovations. With an entirely new section that guides us through the complicated world of digital machinery, where masses of electronic information can be squeezed onto a single tiny microchip, this revised edition embraces all of the newest developments, from cars to watches. Each scientific principle is brilliantly explained--with the help of a charming, if rather slow-witted, woolly mammoth.

Castle

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This is a really neat, intricately drawn and written book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I remember reading this book back when I was in Junior High and High School. I'm 30 now (ugh!) I have always been fascinated with history (especially why folks did what they did when they did it) and while characters are fictitious, the design and building practices as well as the situations involved in the story are truly as it happened. The pictures are highly detailed such that you almost feel like you leap into the pages of the story. I primarily purchased this for a bit of nostalgia but would highly recommend this product to anyone who might be interested.

Fascinating Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After reading this book, I gave it to my grandson for Christmas and he is enjoying it very much. It is interesting not only to him but to his father as well. It really makes history and social progress come alive.

Editorial Review:

The word itself conjures up mystery, romance, intrigue, and grandeur. What could be more perfect for an author/illustrator who has continually stripped away the mystique of architectural structures that have long fascinated modern man? With typical zest and wry sense of humor punctuating his drawings, David Macaulay traces the step-by-step planning and construction of both castle and town.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (Sandpiper)

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Macaulay's books 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book lives up to my expectations of David Macaulay's books in that it's very well drawn, has an abundant amount of useful information and is presented in a clear, exciting manner!

Gothic Cathedral 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book with fascinating illustration. Good for children and at the same time for universitary pupils!

Stories for Children Magazine 4 Star Review 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This first book in David Macaulay's series of well illustrated descriptions of how things in history were built explains the construction of a thirteenth-century Gothic cathedral. In 1252, the people of Chutreaux, France, wished to erect a new cathedral to express thanks for peace, the end of the plague, good weather, plenty of food to eat, and successful business for the city's merchants, after the old one was struck by lightning and damaged. Both the cathedral and people of Chutreaux are imaginary, but the methods of the cathedral's construction correspond closely to the actual building of a medieval cathedral, and the single-minded spirit of the city's populace is typical of people from the twelfth through fourteenth century in Europe.

The book makes a very good resource to accompany a study of the Middle Ages. The Church was extremely important to life in medieval Europe. Since the work on the cathedral covered 86 years, it took three architects--William of Planz, Robert of Cormont, and Etienne of Gaston--to guide the choosing of timbers and stone, laying the foundation, building the walls, installing the glass, and all the other activities needed for the completion of the cathedral in 1338, said to be the longest, widest, highest, and most beautiful cathedral in all of France. The wonderful drawings are quite helpful in being able to see what was happening and to understand the terms that are used. Cathedral was a 1973 Caldecott Honor book.

REVIEWED BY: Wayne S. Walker

Editorial Review:

Text and detailed drawings follow the planning and construction of a magnificent Gothic cathedral in the imaginary French town of Chutreaux during the thirteenth century.

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

How Romans Built 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

When taken together as a collection, Macaulay's books, from Castle and Cathedral and Pyramid, Mill, Unbuilding, Mosque, and most definitely this one, City, create what is probably the most readable, retainable, and approachable exploration of the story of architecture that's out there. These books, each highlighting an era and a project, are all a lot of fun to look at, read, and think about, and in this volume, City, the foundation and construction of a Roman population center is detailed. From the explanation for why the Romans built cities from scratch, to the selection and preparation of the site, to the actual erection of a brand new city, Macaulay leaves nothing unexplored or unexplained. These books are as enjoyable for adults as they are for children, and are truly classics of our time.

Roman Architecture Explained: Fascinating! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

In this book, David Macaulay expertly describes and illustrates the construction of the imaginary Roman city of Verbonia. It is based hundreds of real Roman cities built between 300 B.C. and A.D. 150. I was amazed at the planning that went into the city, and the systematic and precise manner that everything was managed. I was fascinated to learn how they built the aqueducts for the city's water supply, even going through hills, and the sewer system underground to keep the city sanitary. The architecture of the forum and baths was so intriguing. Of course, this might be expected from the author of "The Way Things Work"! His detailed drawings are fabulous. This a terrific book for learning about Roman cities in this time period and for studying the way the cities were put together to provide for all the needs of the inhabitants.

Editorial Review:

Text and black and white illustrations show how the Romans planned and constructed their cities for the people who lived within them.

Underground

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A new perspective on things 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Macaulay uses his amazing talents to turn the world upside down in this unique book. Children (and even adults) will learn all kinds of things about what's beneath a modern city. I enjoyed showing my son the illustrations and explaining what it all means. Do beware, however, that this is a pretty abstract topic and that it can be difficult for younger kids to fully comprehend exactly what's going on. After all, thinking about what a city would like like with all the soil and rock removed and from many feet below street level is not a simple idea. So this one is probably best for older kids, as opposed to earlier works by Macaulay such as Cathedral or Castle that are much more tangible and easy for kids to comprehend.

Editorial Review:

David Macaulay takes us on a visual journey through a city's various support systems by exposing a typical section of the underground network and explaining how it works. We see a network of walls, columns, cables, pipes and tunnels required to satisfy the basic needs of a city's inhabitants.

Pyramid

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

David Macaulay has done it again 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Following in the tradition of other terrific books about complex construction projects using simple technology - such as Castle and Cathedral - Macaulay introduces children to the pyramids of ancient Egypt. And once again he hits a homerun, with a storyline that's just informative enough to create context but simple enough for young children to follow. Oh, did I mention the outstanding illustrations? This is a terrific book for kids and children alike. I bought it for my four-year-old son but I ended up learning quite a bit myself.

Pyramid = mystery 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

`Pyramid` (1975) is Macaulay's third book. It shows the building of a hypothetical pyramid similar in size to Giza. Unfortunately Macaulay took on a difficult subject. There is still controversy about how exactly the pyramids were built. The 4-ramp model shown in the book is just one of many ideas, and not even proven to work. The latest theory is described in Khufu: The Secrets Behind the Building of the Great Pyramid, involving a series of internal and external ramps (see a BBC article about it in the note below). Given this, it's hard to know what else in the book is accurate, or conjecture. Macaulay is at his best when he demystifies the world around us, but in this case the pyramids really are a mystery, and so it leaves the impression of inaccuracy. However we can probably assume some of it is right (the tools for example). Like all Maccaulay books, it's an enjoyable and impressive journey through history. Just don't rely on it as a blueprint for building your own pyramid!

Editorial Review:

Through concise text and richly detailed black and white illustrations we come to know the philosophy of life and death in ancient Egypt.

Motel of the Mysteries

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Gentle poke at our preconceptions 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I've carried my copy of this book over many moves. It grows on me each time I read it. Originally it seemed just a humourous retelling of the Carter discovery of Tutankhamun and the Egyptian hysteria that accompanies it. Later on, after getting much more involved in arguments over interpretations of Roman historical artifacts, I realized how to the point the book is about the way we see the past and argue over the meaning of what we see. Still really funny though.

Editorial Review:

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

Black and White

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

My opinion: The most creative of the Caldecotts 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

David Macaulay is known for his architectural books: Pyramid, Castle, and City: a Story of Roman Planning and Construction and their accompanying videos. However, this Caldecott winner is a demonstration of that soaring Macaulay imagination!

Macaulay posts this warning right on the title page: "This book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time. Then again, it may contain only one story. In any event, careful inspection of both words and pictures is recommended."

I'll say this at the beginning: As a children's librarian, I would never read or show this to a class. There is no way to explain this complicated, interconnected book of four stories that run into and out of each other.

Here is how they look. There are four stories on the two adjoining pages with two stories per page. Each story has predominant colors of blue, green, brown, and black and white. Colors and patterns spill and slip from one story to the next, but the thrust of the story is done in black and white. It must be noted that Macaulay is NOT saying that everything is black and white. Oh no! If anything he is saying that everything is NOT black and white, but he uses black and white, both words and pictures, to say it.

What I just wrote in that last sentence gives a sense of the story. It is brilliantly creative! I had a special story time with some gifted students last year, second graders. They had so much fun with this book. I had to get them started on "reading" the pictures (this is a picture book with narrative on each story block), but once they caught on, they rip-roared with the story!!

Remember the admonition to stay in the lines and not think outside the box. David Macaulay failed that class because he both colors outside the lines--literally--and his characters get outside their cartoon boxes and into each other's boxes. The story is one big paean to imagination, creativity, whimsy, flight of fancy, freedom to explore, and freedom to see the Big Picture.

Wow, this is one great book. Every child should own it! I certainly do!

Editorial Review:

Four stories are told simultaneously, with each double-page spread divided into quadrants. The stories do not necessarily take place at the same moment in time, but are they really one story? You'll have to read this award winner and find out.

Building Big

David Macaulay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A BIG success 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

David Macaulay takes the reader on a tour of some of the really big civil engineering structures of our time. Building Big has sections on Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, Domes, and Skyscrapers. Each part of the book describes the design and construction of from four to ten outstanding examples of the structure highlighted. The examples in each category are described in chronological order with some going back to the time of ancient Rome. The drawings that accompany the text are excellent at focusing on the details and techniques described. The integration of text and graphics is wonderful. In each case, Macaulay describes the design objectives, the interplay between the structure and the environment, and the engineering solutions used to bring the structures into being. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in structural engineering and design. I have not seen the related PBS video series, but I can say that the book stands on its own very well. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

Why this shape and not that? Why steel instead of concrete or stone? Why put it here and not over there? These are the kinds of questions that David Macaulay asks himself when he observes an architectural wonder. These questions take him back to the basic process of design from which all structures begin, from the realization of a need for the structure to the struggles of the engineers and designers to map out and create the final construction. As only he can, David Macaulay engages readers' imaginations and gets them thinking about structures they see and use every day - bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams. In Building Big he focuses on the connections between the planning and design problems and the solutions that are finally reached. Whether a structure is imposing or inspiring, he shows us that common sense and logic play just as important a part in architecture as imagination and technology do. As always, Macaulay inspires readers of all ages to look at their world i