Brick City: LEGO (R) for Grown Ups

by Warren Elsmore

Brand New. Ship worldwide

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Art

Paperback

First published May 6, 2013

Reviews

[Andrew Ives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brick City is very nicely laid out, well printed on heavy paper, all glossy, in an unusual semi-hardback binding that works well, with two giant fold-out pages. The photography is equally good, while the text is perfectly adequate, if a little slight. I'm not the world's biggest Lego fan, so for me this was an enjoyable mixture of seeing all sorts of landmarks in miniature (many of which I had never heard of), being slightly amazed at the massive models of e.g. St Pancras station, Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame, and having my enthusiasm for architecture piqued a little too. There are instructions for how to build many of the models within, ranging from only a few small bricks for a micro-scale Capitol Hill to some daunting efforts like the Arc de Triomphe. Adult readers will probably wish they had the time to make anything here, younger readers will probably just dream of having so many bricks. All said, for the kind of book it aims to be, this really couldn't be much better. Lego fans will love it. 4.25/5

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Lego City book with actual buildings (slight sarcasm here as I was so happy to see only a couple of cars). Nice mixture of famous landmarks built in different scales. Instructions available for some of the buildings, but obviously not for the huge ones.

Plenty on NPU and the texts were helpful in understanding how something may have been built even when the detailed instructions weren't available. With some pictures, I could've used more detailed pictures to understand exactly which pieces had been used. In general, the balance between text and pictures was good.

[Rene Hender · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems like Mr Elsmore put a lot of thought into this book, as he introduces the reader to unconventional building techniques like Studs Not On Top and gives some basic theoretical information.

What‘s more, the book features large images of well-known landmarks reimagined in LEGO. The additional instructions to build smaller-sized models is a nice bonus, although most models require special pieces that not everyone may have at home.

All in all, Brick City is a nice read, nothing exceptional, but still a good book about LEGO nonetheless.

[Andrew Thorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book for all lego lovers everywhere. Having seen most of these models up close and personal at the recent "Brick2014" exhibition in London it is great to read some of the details regarding the builds.
This book is full of fantastic photos of the models themselves and also gives many tips sets of instructions for smaller models that anyone can have a go at.

It is also a great place for information on more unusual building techniques and the ingenuity of the builders is fantastic to see.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard one to categorise, this: it's not a story (obviously!), so no plot, nor is it a traditional educational book.

In the end, however, I decided to categorise it as educational simply 'cos it shows what can be done with LEGO blocks!

The book, itself, is really just photos (with, in most cases, building instructions for those with enough of the right kind of pieces) of the Lego counterparts of real-life buildings, most made by LEGO artist Warren Elsmore and a few by other contributors.

Makes me jealous!

[Josh Moore]

realy good