Hidden Systems is a book you use to teach kids how the internet works

Growing up, I learned how things work from the author David MacaulayIncredible picture book. I was surprised to see Macaulay’s recommendation for a new illustrated commentator by another author in my inbox this week, but the surprise didn’t last long.

15 minutes after starting to skim the preliminary copy of hidden system, just came out this week and immediately ordered the book for my kids. It looks like a great way to help them conceptualize the internet, the world’s water supply, and the power grid. infrastructure A world that will be inherited someday.

On page 262, author and cartoonist Dan Knott tackles each of these systems in the form of comic panels, giving an insight into how they work without ignoring the social challenges each faces. It was conceived to piece together the foundation. “I started drawing about hidden systems because comics seem to have a superpower-like ability to compare the way we do things. idea about something How it works specifically,” Nott writes in the book.

Much of it has taken me years to master, and it’s all wrapped up in an incredibly readable format. You’re sure to discover things even adults don’t know about, such as the shape and location of secret buildings where telecom companies hide network equipment.

I wanted to show you some of it, so I asked publisher Random House if they could share the first chapter about the metaphors we use to describe the Internet.

They gladly obliged, so go ahead!