The LEGO Book Hardcover – Box set, August 20, 2012

This book tells the amazing story of Lego, from its start in a carpenter's workshop to becoming a global brand. It features key moments in the company's history, fun facts about products, parks, games, art, and more, with rare photos from their archives. You will also get creative ideas for building with just a few bricks. It is a great book for any Lego fan; especially for any AFOL.

I had this pre-ordered quite a while ago, and it finally showed up yesterday!HEAVY, thick hard covers, in an even HEAVIER thick slip cover! Even the "bonus book" about the mini figure is the same wonderful quality. GREAT value for the money!What a brilliant look a the history of the LEGO brick and the company as a whole. For those looking for new and outrageous models you might be in for a bit of disappointment, as this is more of a visual history. I had so much fun remembering back with all the old sets they showed, and looking at the time line and thinking, "Was it REALLY 20 years ago I got that set for my birthday?"This book is all about the visual. There is a minimal amount of words per page, but they do a wonderful job at describing what is going on, and leading us through the journey, and not taking away from the well laid out pages.One other review complained that this was a "glorified catalog", but how else would you like to display almost 300 pages of toys? ANY book about a 50+ year line of toys will come off a bit catalog like, no matter how much you try to avoid that. I for one give kudos to the authors from cramming in so many sets and making sure the name and year of each set shown is displayed. These names and date help link the items to the time line, as well as give me a starting point to try and find an old copy of a set that this book brought out fond memories of!I love new and exciting builds as much as the next guy, that's why I am a Brick Journal subscriber (the compendiums are available here on Amazon, and well worth the money!), this book is not meant to do that. This book is a visual history of the entire LEGO system up to today. The book even included the current Space Police and Power Miners lines, and mentions the new Disney lines coming out next year, so you know the information is as up to date as possible in print form!

This book was so good that kids fought over it so much that I had to buy a replacement for the library! Sooooo…. buyers beware. Think about it before you buy something so exciting and coveted.

Are you a Lego fan? ... If the answer is yes, then you must purchase this book. It doesn't matter what your age is, you will enjoy going through this book over and over again.I purchased this book for my boyfriend as a birthday gift but I couldn't help going through it a few times before wrapping it up. We had looked at it various times at the bookstore but never purchased it because it was full price there so I got it for him here at Amazon because they always have anything for way cheaper than most places.The great thing about this book is that it's actually 2 books that come in a box. One is about Lego in general like sets they have made throughtout the years and the second book is about minifigures only. The minifigure book was my favorite because of course that's the best part of any Lego set...the minifigures. It shows the very first minifigures they did to the most recent ones and it divides them by type of set they came in. It doesn't show all the minifigures they have made but it does show the most popular or important ones.Once again.. don't hesitate to buy this book for even a second. It's well worth the money even if you do happen to buy it at full price. The pictures are very colorful and will entertain you every time you look at it. This is one of those books that you can look at over, over, and over again and never get tired of.

The LEGO Book / Standing Small is a nice set of reference books / coffee-table books, but is not the end-all be-all reference that I hoped it would be. This set definitely leans toward the casual fan (either child or adult), rather than the hard-core LEGO maniac. However for the price, it is a worthy addition to a LEGO reference library if only for the images.To date, there has not been a single volume that could be considered the definitive reference for LEGO including the history of the company, the LEGO philosophy, and the product lines (to date). To get a reasonably complete set of reference (as described in previous sentence), you currently have to purchase many books, some of which were never available in the US. These include LEGO BOOK MUSEUM Vol.1 Minifigs & Sets Visual Catalog (Japan), 50 Years of the LEGO Brick, LEGO Collector's Guide, The Ultimate LEGO Book, The World of LEGO Toys, 50 Years of Play, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen en LEGO (Netherlands), The LEGO Train Book (Europe only), and a handful of various LEGO (System), PRIMO, and DUPLO books / catalogs (Europe only).It would be nice to have a single tome that could be considered THE reference including manufacturing histories, parts, sets, patents (both those in produced sets / pieces and those referenced by the patents used for production items), etc. in addition to the history of the company and the design philosophy. Granted this would end up being aimed at a much smaller market with a much higher price tag, but it would be well worth the publisher / author / LEGO company's time and effort.