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Review: The Unofficial LEGO ® Technic Builder’s Guide

ultbg_cover03.inddWhen I first heard this book was coming out a few months ago, I couldn’t wait for it to become available on Amazon.  Fate would have it be that last week I was contacted by No Starch Press to ask if I was interested in reviewing this book.  It took all of about 1 ms to make up my mind; of course I would love to!  I had high expectations for this book, being written by none other than Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec, a man whose reputation for building awesome creations is practically legendary.

You can imagine my relief when I started reading through this book that it lives up to everything I had hoped it would be.  It  is printed in colour and covers just about everything you’d expect from a builder’s guide:

  • a description of all the beams, axles, connectors, cogs and other elements and how to combine them in ways I hadn’t even imagined;
  • various levers and linkages, ranging from simple to the more complex and exotic like the “Peaucellier–Lipkin cell” (don’t worry if you’ve never seen one before, I know I hadn’t);
  • really cool looking (and functional, of course) custom mechanical solutions such as differentials, Geneva mechanisms and a double-axle turntable transmission and much, much more.

I could go on and on, but I am not going to list the entire book for you here.  It is easy to see that a lot of hard work has gone into making this book.   Reading this book was truly a journey of discovery.  The author has gone through great lengths to explain all the different ideas and techniques.  Whether you are looking for a new pneumatic pump idea or a wheeled suspension system for your truck, this book will be able to help you out.  No matter if you are a beginner or a veteran builder, you will find inspiration within this book;  there truly is something for everyone in here.  I may sound like a am rambling but I simply can’t say enough good things about this book; you’d be crazy not to get it.

You can find more information about the book on the website: [LINK].  There you will also find a Table of Contents and some other bits of info.  If you’re quick, you can pre-order this book from NoStarch with a 30% discount if you use the  coupon code PREORDER.  The book will be officially on sale at the end of October 2012.

About Xander

Xander Soldaat is a Software Engineer and former Infrastructure Architect. He loves building and programming robots. He recently had the opportunity to turn his robotics hobby into his profession and has started working for Robomatter, the makers of ROBOTC and Robot Virtual Words.