September 30, 2023
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Review: The LEGO® Book – New Edition

I recently finished reading the new edition of The LEGO® Book, and thought that I would take a moment to share my thoughts on it. I’ll start off by stating that this is yet another DK book, so there is a fair amount of overlap with previous LEGO® books. However, there is a concerted effort to include as many themes as possible, and a fair amount of history too.

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Front cover of The LEGO® Book.

I have not read the first edition of this book, so I can’t compare the changes that have been made. However, I can say that I found this book to be an enjoyable read that contained a lot of fun facts. The LEGO® Book does not jump into the same amount of detail about any given theme as, say, a DK visual dictionary would, but it gives the highlights. I found the content to be similar to A Million Little Bricks by Sarah Herman (click here to read my review), only in this edition you get the picture heavy layouts that DK books are known for.

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Back cover of The LEGO® Book.

Like previous DK books that I have reviewed, this book made a sort of haphazard attempt to be current at the time of its release. It was released on October 2, 2018. The book does contain many references to LEGO® sets and happenings throughout 2018, but leaves other key developments out. An example would be the book’s discussion of the arctic City sub-theme. It mentions the sets that were released in 2014, but makes no mention of the theme’s revival during the publication year. Those sets were released months before this book was. I also noticed a few errors, like the fact that the bear figurine is listed only as a 2018 addition. Perhaps they were referring specifically to the black bear variant, but the same mold has been seen in the past as a brown bear and a polar bear, neither of which is mentioned in the book.

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A spread showing how LEGO® bricks are made.

I did rather like the spreads in this book. Generally speaking, DK does a good job with the layout of their LEGO® books. The same is true for this edition. But, this book also switched up the page orientation from portrait to landscape in the Pirates section, which I thought was neat. I would have liked to have seen more sections flipped like that, just to mix things up.

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One of the flipped Pirates spreads that mixes up the visuals in the book a little.

Finally, this book also comes with a freebie. While most books of this nature include a Minifigure, this one comes with an exclusive LEGO® brick. It is a standard 2×4, but one side of it is printed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the brick. It is a change from the usual, but they could have still stuck with a Minifigure since it was also the 40th anniversary of the Minifigure. Or better yet, include both to warrant all that extra cardboard packaging in the cover… I will still probably find a neat way to showcase this brick in my LEGO® city though.

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The packaging for the exclusive LEGO® brick is a little much, but you still get a lot of actual book with this edition too.

Overall, The LEGO® Book is a fun read, but it is not mind blowing information that you can’t find in numerous other sources, or on the internet. I am still waiting for that defining LEGO® book. I like the commemorative brick, but it would have been cooler to get a Minifigure too. It makes a nice coffee table book though.

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Each theme has a “sets to remember” spread like this that I found quite nostalgic.

Have you read The LEGO® Book? Feel free to share your thoughts on it in the comments below. Also,  if you like the content at True North Bricks, I would love it if you followed me here on WordPress (click the “follow” option in the menu to your right), FacebookPinterest, or Twitter for regular updates.

Until next time,

-Tom

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The exclusive, commemorative, printed 2×4 brick included with The LEGO Book.