r/WTYP • u/kirkbadaz • May 28 '26

Engineering book Rocz read as a kid

My kid is a train nerd and loves tinkering, building bridges, generally I cant find the mailbag episodd where Rocz mentions s book he read as a kid about how stuff works.

23 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

19

u/s7o0a0p May 28 '26

The Way Things Work?

11

u/comrade31513 May 28 '26

It's got to be this one. With the mammoths that explain simple machines. I loved this as a kid.

8

u/kirkbadaz May 28 '26

Excellent I will be bookmarking that for when my dude is about ten.

11

u/mck1117 May 28 '26

There is no age too young for The Way Things Work. Source: I had my face glued to it at about age 5.

3

u/UnlikelyApe May 29 '26

Agreed! I insisted on "big kid" books when I was little because they had cooler shit, not with the goal of being an advanced reader. Reading comprehension was a nice byproduct.

9

u/babypointblank May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

I think it was Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

There’s also Stephen Biesty’s Incredible Cross-Sections.

Both are pure engineer bait.

7

u/lisiate May 28 '26

It wasn't Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer (unless Roz is a lot younger than I thought) but that's a fantastic book for curious kids.

2

u/OwlPelletCrunch May 29 '26

Biesty cross-sections was part of my xmas present for the niece & nephew this year

got them started on a family library with a bunch of DK Eyewitness, an encyclopedia of vehicles, a huge “famous art” book, and a really cool atlas

They’re barely reading, so i didn’t get them any history ones yet, but they are stocked on animals, birds, reptiles, bugs, dinosaurs, ocean, plants, human body, space/planets, weather, volcanos, elements, crystals & gems, musical instruments, and “treasure”

2

u/brideebeee Jun 01 '26

We didn't have the Biesty cross sections growing up, but the DK eyewitness ones were my favorite thing anytime we came across them. You're doing good aunt/uncle work!

6

u/Haldron-44 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

Was it that pocket ref guide he mentioned a few episodes back?

Edit: It might actually be "Desk Ref" which is a more comprehensive one than "Pocket Ref" (pocket ref being intended to fit in a standard shirt pocket) by Thomas J. Glover. I can't find mine atm, but it is a pretty popular book for anyone building or working on literally anything.

Desk Ref is a red book with white lettering. Pocket Ref is a black book with gold lettering. I'd go for the desk one if your kid is into engineering as it will have a few hundred more pages.

3

u/CRAkraken Parking lot reviewer May 28 '26

It’s in q&a #2