In 1979 I got my first Lego Space toy, it was the classic moon buggy.
I have been a fan of Lego Space ever since, although I still strongly prefer the classic series and some of the late 1990′s releases did not really strike my fancy. Anyway, the other day I found an email by No Starch Press, a partner of O’Reilly, in my inbox inquiring if I would be interested in receiving a review copy of Lego Space – Building the Future.
Of course I was!
Lego Space – Building the Future is one of those books that takes you right back to the glorious days of your childhood (if you are my age), gives you inspiration for what to do with your Lego collection and lets you spend more quality time with the kids. In short: It is a book no parent who wants his children to grow up to be astronauts or Lego enthusiast should be without. Lego Space – Building the Future tells an epic tale of exploration and adventure, starting with Sputnik and the Mars Rover and stretching all the way into the far future with bases on the Moon and Mars and even further to gates connecting star systems.
Peter Reid and Tom Goddard have gone into a lot of detail, we learn about the lives and daily challenges of the scientists and explorers, the organic growth of the Federation from humble beginnings as a science outpost to the driving force behind human space exploration. It is also a tale of scientific breakthroughs, ambition leading almost to disaster and human perseverance. In short, it is an absolutely epic sci-fi story told with Lego. Every step of the way, there are Lego models, shuttles, robots, bases, aliens, base interiors, maintenance droids. Everything you would expect in space (did I mention the star fighters and the sentinel walkers? Now I did!) you find in this book – built with Lego, not every model in there comes with instructions, but there are still plenty in the book, there is even an instruction for building Sputnik!
Lego Space – Building the Future will send you scrambling to wherever you have stored your Lego and start building, it may also cause you to usurp your children’s Lego.
10 out of 10 and the badge of honour:
