While there are many coffee-table style books out there that cover specific topics around LEGO, Daniel Lipkowitz’s New Edition of The LEGO Book covers the widest spectrum of LEGO themes, sets and more. This is the second major release of The LEGO Book, having been first released in 2009 (and lightly updated in 2012). While there is some content that mirrors the earlier release, it does come with sufficient updates of imagery, photos, and text to deservingly call it a completely new edition.

Published by DK, the book comes in at 280 pages thick and is printed on high-quality paper, but like many LEGO books is thicker than it needed to be (see image below) due to the inclusion of a holder for the exclusive brick printed to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of LEGO (1958-2018). It retails for $25 USD but can be found for $16.51 on Amazon for a discounted rate at the time of our writing.

What’s inside?

The book contains the various themes and playsets released from LEGO from the past six decades, though they’re not named according to LEGO’s own official categories. An example is below, where various large vehicle builds are put together under a Super Vehicles section.

The book is not exhaustive, and there are some missing themes. For instance, the one that I noticed was BrickHeadz, which does not have its own section, though you can find it makes an appearance in a build or two under the Super Heroes section. To break it down, two-thirds of the book covers the play themes while the remaining one-third is split between The LEGO Story, and The Lego World (roughly 50 pages each).

The LEGO Story section covers the very beginnings of LEGO with wooden toys, making of the brick, the evolution of the LEGO logo, and timelines. The LEGO World Section contains a bit of coverage on the theme parks (LEGOLAND, Discovery Centres) and also video games and retail LEGO stores.

There’s a section on LEGO Fan Builders, and as a contributor for The Brothers Brick who writes about amazing builds every day, I must say that the selection is pretty disappointing. We’ve certainly seen much more impressive builds than what’s showcased here. (Mr. Lipkowitz or DK! Give us a call next time, will ya?) You can expect most topics to be covered in two pages, but Star Wars did get a 10-page spread to cover the huge variety from the vast collection of movies and shows. As for the play themes, most of the images that you’re going to see are official images that already exist online and won’t be anything new if you’re already familiar with the sets.

The Exclusive LEGO Brick

I know more than a handful of LEGO fans who are buying this book just for the exclusive printed brick. While it’s simple, the design is pretty unique with a line art angled brick with the year 1958 and 2018 printed. I must admit that getting to own this one of a kind unique brick tipped the scales for me also.

What it’s not

This is definitely not a dictionary nor encyclopedia of all things LEGO—it contains only a tiny fragment of what exists. I did see more than a few comments in the Amazon reviews thinking that would come with instructions to build the creations, which is also NOT what this book is meant for.

Summary – Is it for you?

It is impossible to cover everything A-Z on LEGO within any single book, but if you had to just get one book to enjoy the 60-year lifespan from cover to cover in an overview, this would be one that you’d want to go for. It would be especially useful if you’re new to the LEGO scene or if you’re just coming back from a hiatus from what LEGO fans call the ‘dark ages’ and need a quick re-introduction. Though I’ve only been an avid LEGO fan for the past 3 years or so, it was pleasant to see a thing or two that I had not seen before. And if you’re just after that exclusive brick, well, I guess you don’t have much of a choice.

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