The Way the World Works is a 2012 book by Nicholson Baker that collects thirty-four previously published essays together.

War's biggest essay comprises a riposte to reviews of Human Smoke, Baker’s 2008 book on World War II, in which he argues that the case for pacifism is often misunderstood and examines the reputation and effects of various campaigners for pacifism.

Laurence Phelan of The Independent describes Baker's prose as having "a specificity, elegance and personality that even Simpsons writers cannot match.

"[2] Leo Robson in The Guardian describes it as “ephemera” and said that “Baker takes small subjects but he leaves them small, failing to summon in his work as a journalist the transformative energies on display in his novels”, though Robson also states that while most of the essays fail to deliver, “the exceptions are few but thrilling.”[3] David Ulin writes in The LA Times that the collection is "a little scattershot...some of the pieces here feel repetitious, negligible" and also criticises Baker for a "gratuitous, even fawning" profile of David Remnick.

[4] Nicholas Blincoe in The Telegraph praises the “warm, technical and attractively lucid” style and states that Baker “is one of the most important writers we have”; he does, however, also criticise Baker, with reference to his arguments for pacifism, because “his devotion to making things work leads him astray.”[5] Publishers Weekly describes the collection as “a delight to read...[offering] gorgeous prose and [posing] important questions about our era of digital readership.”[6]