This time around I have a real treat: three books about LEGO. These bricks were a staple of my childhood. They are well made and foster creativity in ways no other toy does. My LEGO collection has been handed down to my kids (who allow me to play with them sometimes) and added to many times.
These books give interesting insights and ideas that LEGO aficionados may enjoy. Each book is focused on a different segment of this audience. All are from No Starch Press. All the books are nicely printed on quality paper and include amazing color illustrations throughout. I’ll say right up front that, while I really liked all three of these books, I am reviewing them in order of preference. This preference reflects my personal tastes more than my feelings about the quality or content of any of the books, though. I think each deserves a high rating.
The first book is The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide, 2nd Edition by Allan Bedford. This book has a lot of words, but they are not wasted words. It communicates the philosophy behind the engineering of LEGO and then builds on that knowledge the skills necessary to design and create anything you can conceive of using LEGO. That’s an amazing feat! There are some step by step directions to build a few things, but these are used more to illustrate good and useful techniques rather than give examples of what to build. The information given is deep, interesting, and would give a great foundation to anyone wanting to learn to build using other materials later in life. I recommend this book to anyone from older elementary school all the way through adulthood.
The second book is The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1 by Megan Rothrock. This hardcover book includes a series of about 25 step-by-step building guides that are similar to what is provided when you buy a LEGO kit and pictures of about 200 built models for further inspiration. The illustrations in this book are stellar and the models are outstanding. Anyone looking to be inspired to build more interesting and more beautiful things will find this book thrilling. The book follows a loose story line focused on an adventure, a quest to learn how to build interesting and complicated things with LEGO. The story line is neither vital nor distracting, it just gives an fun excuse to move from idea to idea. This is the book that I expect my kids to enjoy most (ages 7, 9, and 10), with the older kids graduating to the book above very soon. This book includes “Vol. 1” in the title. I haven’t seen any other volumes, but will be watching for their appearance.
The third book is The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide by Paweł “Sariel” Kmieć. This is the most technical of the books in this review. Not everyone moves from standard LEGO bricks and kits to the Technic series. Those with a bent toward engineering, toward learning the mechanics of systems, love Technic kits and what can be done with them. I remember building my first car with a working steering wheel that actually turned the front wheels using Technic pieces back when I was in middle school (say 12 or 13 years old). I loved learning how this stuff works and the flexibility that comes from building with the even-more-precise-and-flexible gears, beams, and technical pieces available. I remember building a model of an internal combustion engine and tons of other stuff of this sort. Not everyone finds this interesting, and this smaller audience is the only reason this book is listed last. If you like this sort of thing, this book will expand your palette in ways you never imagined. You will learn about all the types of pieces available, how to use them to even greater effect, and learn some great mechanical science at the same time.
Disclosure: I was given my copy of these books by the publisher as review copies.