How to make an awesome LEGO book:

Get a guy who used to design for LEGO.
Get an excellent graphic designer.
Design really cool vehicles.
Render incredible images.
Make great instructions.
Put it all together in a top notch, high quality book.

Simple, right?

OK, maybe it's not that simple. But there's piles of mediocre books out there, proving that just having a decent idea or even building chops doesn't always result in a good book. The good news is somehow the planets aligned, the brick gods smiled on us and brought together all the ingredients to make this happen. Nathanael Kuipers and Mattia Zamboni set a new standard with this book, a standard that other authors just might struggle to live up to. Every aspect of this book is top-notch, from cover to cover.

It all begins with a simple concept, what else can you build with LEGO Creator set #5867 Super Speedster? If you already have that set, or can get it for a reasonable price, you have everything you need to build all ten of the models in this book, genius. There's also a bill of material at the beginning of the book so you can assemble your own parts. You are also encouraged to get creative if you don't have all the exact parts, after all, getting creative is what LEGO is all about right?

As you can see, the models are all brilliant, and they're not just a bunch of slightly different race cars. There's everything from a stroller to a fire rescue truck, all expertly designed. If you've built LEGO models before, you will feel right at home with the instructions, they're nearly identical to LEGO's. There's also not a lot of theory and boring back story, there's just a brief introduction followed by some very cool illustrated concepts and then boom, you're building.

Each model is introduced with beautiful renders (really, you don't get any better than this, I actually thought they were photographs, and it takes a lot to fool me) and a scale of complexity, functions and pieces. There's no model in here that's too terribly difficult to build, but some younger builders might need a little assistance. The book specifies builders age 7 and up, but as with all age recommendations you be the judge, you know your kids better than anyone.

Needless to say I am thoroughly impressed with this book, I highly recommend it to both young and old, new and experienced. The renders and graphics alone are worth it. Add in the instructions, design, layout and everything else, you'd have to have a really good reason NOT to get this book.

I Give it 5 out of 5 Nerdlys