The Way Things Work (1988)

The Way Things Work Now, the 2016 revision The benchmark the rest of this list is measured against. David Macaulay's drawings, with technical text by Neil Ardley, are organized by the science behind the machines, opening with the mechanics of movement, so a reader learns the principle once and then spots it everywhere, from levers to lasers and windmills to Wi-Fi. Woolly mammoths operate most of the devices, which sounds like a gimmick until you notice how well a joke fixes an idea in the memory. The first edition came out in 1988; the 2016 Now edition adds recent technology such as touchscreens and 3D printers.