The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide Book Review

Now before I start my review, I have to post this disclaimer — If you’ve been reading me for a while you’ve probably figured out that I’m not a Technic builder. Never really have been and most likely never really will be. Sure I use Technic parts all the time. But I almost never build exclusively in Technic and with the exception of the new jewelry display racks I designed a couple months ago I hardly ever think about building with Technic exclusively.

I would like to thank No Starch Press for providing me with a copy of this book so that I could review it.

There, now that that’s over with I’ll start my review: 😀

My first impression as I thumbed through this book that it was very, very in depth but at the same time it was very wordy. Now I get that Technic guys usually are engineers in training (or professional ones when they grow up) but even so, this book had almost way too many words. I suppose it comes from me being more on the artistic side rather than the engineering side, but I’m much more of a visual learner.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of pictures in the book as well. Even if I am not a Technic builder, I know all the basic fundamentals. I’ve built my share of Technic models over the years, and as I said, I use the elements all the time and I am fairly versed in their uses. So looking over this book (without fully reading it I must admit) I can tell that it really does show pretty much everything you need to know about how to do all the basics for practically every Technic technique out there.

What this book is invaluable for is for learning all the basics without having to figure them out by yourself. Learning how to create a properly working pneumatic system or a gear shift without all the trial and error is awesome.

I see this as a very valuable tool for those that are just starting to forge the waters that are Technic models. Someone who loves all things mechanical and wants to know how they work. I do recommend it for the burgeoning Technic builder out there or even those like me who have been building for a long time but who don’t know all the basic Technic do’s and don’ts.

Tags: gear shift, LEGO, LEGO books, LEGO bricks, LEGO jewelry, mechanical, No Starch Press, pneumatic system, Sculpture, technic, Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder's Guide