Marshall Brain (1961–2024)

This is pretty much exactly what the title leads you to expect: a book full of short (1-4 page) explanations of how things work. Mostly it concentrates on various kinds of technology, from roller coasters to cell phones, but it also includes some examples from the natural world, including atoms and viruses. The explanations are generally pretty basic, although sometimes they include odd technical details, and are presented in very clear, plain language, accompanied by colorful illustrations. show more Clear, plain, and basic doesn't necessarily mean "dumbed down," though; the writers are even willing to throw in some simple equations or chemical formulae if the topic seems to call for it.

Some of the entries are definitely more interesting and accessible than others; I'll admit that my eyes glazed over a bit during the discussions of automotive systems, although that's probably more the fault of my own immense mechanical ineptitude than anything else. But the best of them provoke a pleasant "Hey, neat, I never thought about how that works before!" reaction and/or provide a nice little basic science lesson. Overall, it leaves me feeling slightly in awe of just how much technology we take for granted every day, and how much incredible cleverness has gone into it all.

The book was published in 2001, so it is somewhat dated now, especially the computer sections. It's at least a little less so than I'd expected, though, as it does make a point of talking about what were then the current up-and-coming technologies. Still, if it were published today, I kind of doubt they'd bother explaining serial ports and dial-up modems.

Also, while I more or less read the entire thing through, I don't really recommend that approach. It's one of those books that's probably a lot more fun to pick up, browse through, and just read about whatever topic catches your interest. show less

Lots of stimulating ideas for how short it is. Certainly could have been longer to allow for more background and character development, but still a worthwhile read that you can get through in an hour or so.

So this book, like the Biology book, has a simple structure; one side is printed with words and the other side has an image relating to the engineering marvel we are talking about. Now, engineers might not have invented a lot of the things in this book, but they make the idea more practical and cost effective. Take the Wright Flyer of 1903. It was made of wood and cloth and went at a speed that was not all that impressive. Over the years, planes have come to their own in being made of show more stronger materials and having better propulsion systems. This was all done by teams of engineers working to improve stuff.

Not that there aren't mistakes or missteps out there. The book also lists the Hindenburg disaster, the Chernobyl disaster, the Fukushima Plant disaster and others.

All throughout the book, you can feel the reverence that Marshall Brain feels for these men and women that have made life easier for the billions of us that live on this planet. It goes slightly into the Science Fiction genre at the end, but not entirely. The final few entries are for things that have yet to be invented and can only have an estimated date. They are Vactrains, Brain Replication, Mars Colony and Things We Have Yet To Engineer. All of these things are unfeasible with our current technology, and Mr. Brain explains why, so I suppose they make sense in being in there.

Things we have Yet to Engineer could cover a whole book on itself I am sure. A lot of them are silly ideas, or taken from movies and thus have no basis in current science. For instance, it mentions the Flying Car as something that would present a host of problems due to cost, stability and weight concerns. However, the author does have hopes for the future. After all, the communicator in Star Trek was a lot like the cell phones of today, and that only took them about thirty years. I certainly look forward to what people are capable of. show less

It started very well describing the potential impact of robots in the workplace and the displacement of low-level jobs. Unfortunately then the author took a turn for the worse by outlining utopic ideas, socialism actually, that although well meaning do not match reality when it comes to the ability of people for greed, violence and exploitation of one another.