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!