Brick City: Global Icons to Make from LEGO (Brick...LEGO Series)

For the LEGO AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO), challenging one’s self in order to create something grand is often a goal that many AFOL’s tend to inspire to.From creating LEGO sets, to purchasing hundreds to thousands of pieces in order to create something unique and grand. While along the way, sometimes one needs a little help by using a guideline similar to what people tend to see in LEGO guidebooks, when purchasing a set.Warren Elsmore, a LEGO modeler, is best known for creating London’s St. Pancras Station (about 13.5 feet) and he has created a book titled “BRICK CITY: GLOBAL ICONS TO MAKE FROM LEGO” (which comes with a poster of Elsmore’s London’s St. Pancras Station).The book is more or less a how-to guidebook on how to create famous structures such as the Sydney’s Harbor Bridge, San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and many more.The book goes into detail of what kind of parts are needed, how many pieces are needed and then how he was able to create those buildings.The book also showcases various work by Elsmore such as the 12,000 piece “MACY’S DAY PARADE”, his 2000 piece Abraham Lincoln Memorial to his creation of the Empire State Building.The book starts off with simple models such as the White House/Capitol Building or a New York Taxi to even more complicated structures such as the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers.I definitely recommend “BRICK CITY: GLOBAL ICONS TO MAKE FROM LEGO” if you have had built up your collection of LEGO pieces, are prepared for a major LEGO challenge and also have experience (and patience) to take on a bigger project.Look at this book as a resource to learn how to create more complicated structures or vehicles and after you’re all done, I would not be surprised if one goes on to try and become a master builder.Recommended!

Whether you are a builder or just fan who likes admiring LEGO artwork, this is probably a great book for you. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Photography and production quality is very high. Comes with two pull-out posters which is great to check out more detail in the two mega structures presented but nothing I would really want hanging on a wall.This book focuses on real world icons from major cities across the world. The book mostly focuses on architecture but there are models of other things that you might find in a particular major city like a New York hot dog stand or a London phone booth. The author also features mosaic artwork and LEGO models in different scales (mini, minifig, mega(?), etc)If you're a big LEGO fan you've probably already seen tons of examples of what creativity and LEGO bricks can bring. What this book might add to that is just how some of these models are done. Step-by-step instructions are given for some of the models presented. Mostly these are mini-scale models, facades or a standalone tower. I like this because it helps me picture how some of the models are created and new techniques to learn. Larger structures in the book, of course, do not have instructions but I feel that if you had the bricks, the time and creativity the book would be a good tool in achieving grander scale projects. With just over 250 pages and dozens of models to build, the instructions are not quite as detailed or step-by-step as your usual LEGO instructions. The instructions are condensed so that several layers of bricks are applied in each step. The instructions are also a bit small so it's difficult to see all the details but you still get the general idea. Older children and teenagers can manage.For parents and children: you only have to look at the cover of the book to realize that this is meant for serious builders and LEGO collectors. A starter bucket of LEGO bricks will not be enough to pursue most of the projects presented in the book. It's a great source of inspiration but it does require a fair amount of bricks that may be difficult to acquire off retail shelves.Overall, a great buy. I'm a huge collector of LEGO (and books about LEGO) and this is a great buy for older LEGO fans and serious builders. My only complaint is that the pages could have been bigger to accommodate more detail in the instructions.

The book has pictures of the author's accomplishments but there is only one page describing how to create a 2-D circle. If one wanted to create a sphere like a globe, dome of a church or capital, then this book is not going to help.

If you are already a Lego fanatic, and know it all, then this book may not be that interesting for you. But if you don't know everything about Legos, then there's a lot of great background on the company and the product development over the years. There are also a lot of great models of architectural icons from around the world, most of which are accompanied by step by step instructions for building them.I was personally a bit disappointed that the majority of the models are on a very small scale, whereas I was looking for behemoth models with a great deal of detail (and there are a few here). However, If you're looking for things you can build yourself with a limited investment of time and money, or even build them with your kids in a matter of minutes or a few hours, then this book is perfect for you!Overall, this is a well crafted book, and well worth the price.

Book arrived yesterday, and I haven't been able to put it down. It is filled with interesting bits of information and history covering over 100 landmarks from around the world -and how to recreate them using LEGO.The author includes advice on how and where to purchase LEGO at reasonable prices, construction techniques, and color blending.There are photos of the finished LEGO models, instructional diagrams, and commentary on the construction of many of the models.Some of my favorites are the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, the Chrysler Building (New York), St. Pancras Station (London), and the Pearl Tower (Shanghai). There are also very cool "little" things, like a New York Taxi, San Francisco Cable Car, and a Parisian Cafe.This is a very cool book. Even if you never actually build the projects (although I can't imagine why not), you will still enjoy reading through it over and over again.

Very disappointing book. Many pictures of buildings that you cannot build as there are no instructions. The buildings (not very exciting buildings) that give instructions have very basic instructions and you need a magnifying glass to be able to see the steps properly. Again lists of bricks needed are printed small and do not give the Lego brick number.Book itself is compact, but even shows buildings/vehicles on the front cover that you cannot build.Description needs amending as very ambiguous.

A very good book that has lots of illustrations and instructions on how to build various buildings with Lego. There are a lot of pages and lots of information regarding the different types of bricks that you can buy and also tells them where you can buy them from. The pictures are nice, bright and colourful and it is a pleasure to peruse through and look for ideas and inspirtation.

Impressive book of iconic buildings from around the world - The detail is immense and to read that one guy is responsible for majority of the huge displays is incredible. But for those that don't have millions of Lego bricks at their disposal - Warren Elsmore does include miniature versions of the landmarks that require just a handful of bricks, in comparison to the bigger ones that he creates.

We bought this book in preparation to see an exhibition of Warren Elsmore's models in London. The models are beautiful to see personally and the best thing about this book is that it describes how to build some of them. Very inspirational for our 9 year old son who is a Lego fan. I loved the book too.

A super book featuring some incredible models, and even some little ones for you to make. I bought this solely to see the amazing things people have done with Lego bricks and I wasn't disappointed, Love it!