How in the World?: A Fascinating Journey Through the World of Human Ingenuity

by Reader's Digest Association

An illustrated celebration of human ingenuity explains the underlying principles of 425 key technological innovations, revealing the secrets of lasers, holograms, and more

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Pop Culture, History

448 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 1990

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[Jason Larimer]

I got this book as a Christmas gift in December 1990. I've lost track of my copy- but I learned a lot from this book. I vividly remember the parts about the Colosseum, organ transplants, airports,military logistics and the Channel Tunnel. Has RD come out with an updated version of this book? It'd be interesting to see how they'd write up developments of the past 20 years. In particular, it'd be neat to see how they write up an operation like Amazon or Netflix or the discovery of exoplanets.

[Donald]

I've always loved this type of book, filled with tons of thought provoking items of information. This one is actually dated, some of the information no longer applies.
The population of our planet has more than doubled, for instance.
And the printing process has no need of camera work, negatives, or hand stripping. Desktop publishing and computer technology has whittled down the pre-press department of a printing facility which has, say, seven or eight large format presses from nearly two hundred people working 'round the clock to merely one person per shift... someone has to know where the reset button is.

[Joe Cee]

This is a very informational book!

[Gafurov]

It's Fantastic book.

[Degenerate Chemist]

A coffee table book with lots of interesting trivia. Some of it is outdated. Not bad for a Readers Digest publication.

[Aaron]

If you can get past the silly cover, you'll find one of the better general reader science/technology/explanation books on the market. The book is loaded with brilliant pictures and short, excellent articles. I can't imagine why they went with such a strange, childish-looking cover because the prose is definitely written for high school to adult and covers a variety of interesting topics. I recommend it to anyone who wonders how things are done.

[John Peel]

This book is a little dated (it came out in 1990), but most of it is still relevant and extremely readable. It journeys through the worlds of science, human achievement and entertainment to explain, obviously, how things are done. Obviously the section on computers (and TVs and phones!) aren't very relevant today, but there's plenty of interesting material.

[Stacy]

Reminds of asking questions on google - you start to type it in, google recognizes the question and gives you an answer. This is the pre-google, book version of google. Which is fine...just dated, as is expected from an older book.

[Cws]

600Rea

[Rick Davis]

Man, I pored over this book constantly as a kid. Lots of fun.

[TacoCat]

Very long and over-informational, but lots of new knowledge that it really cool!

[Marcia Campbell]

How in the World: Reader’s Digest. Pleasantville, New York: Reader’s Digest Association, 1990

Target audience: Grades 9-12

How in the World is a compendium of how to in the areas of technology, science, and common everyday curiosities and wonders of almost every aspect of life. Some of the topics covered in this book include how to create a test tube baby, how diamonds are cut by hand and machine, how aerial photos are used to make maps, why people do not fall from a roller coaster when it loops, and how handwriting experts catch criminals, to name a few. There are entries on forensics, art, magic, sports, food, storms, pyramids, transportation: there appears to be an answer to most any how or why question people can conjure up.

The print is small and many of the entries are detailed which might discourage some readers. The book has 448 pages and is illustrated with colorful realistic pictures. Although the book was printed in 1990, many of the images are contemporary. Admittedly, the pictures of Superman, King Kong, technology (computers), space related images need to be updated, but overall, this is a great book to learn how many things are done, and get answers to the curiosities and wonders of this world.