The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks update

Town Plan to NINJAGO to Friends is a big time jump

Looks very interesting. However, the exorbitant cost of having the book sent to New Zealand makes it a hard no for me on principle alone. When will companies realise that ridiculous mark ups on shipping costs will only cost them in the long run.

I MIGHT have done it for $50 (+ shipping), but at $75+, that's a hard pass. As much as I really want to read this book, I can't justify $75 + shipping for it. (I don't like digital books, so that's a non-starter at any price.)

Ah ok, that sounds more like it.
Unfortunately the updated price makes it a lot less attractive a proposition.
50 USD (or the equivalent in Euro) as originally mentioned would have been expensive but kind of reasonable. But 75 USD / 70 Euro is quite a hard pill to swallow.
Might buy it anyway, but will take a few days to think about it first.

I just went ahead and pre-ordered this! I was not sure quite what to expect from it, but judging from this interview, it will be packed with exactly the sort of behind-the-scenes content that I love.

The photo of the preliminary road plate concept teased at the end of the interview is a great example of the sort of content I'm talking about, which previously drew me to nonfiction books about LEGO that fascinated me as a child, such as "The Ultimate LEGO Book" by David Pickering and "The World of LEGO Toys" by Henry Wiencek.

And according to the "About the Book" page, this book will contain "approximately 368–400 pages" — more than twice the length of either of those previous books! So needless to say, I feel like I'll get enough enjoyment, fascination, and knowledge out of this book for it to be well worth the pre-order cost. Of course, I can't speak for others, especially in countries with steeper shipping costs.

I hope when I have the hard copy in my hands it will meet or exceed my expectations! And likewise, I hope that this sort of "deep dive" into previously unrevealed details of LEGO product development is successful enough that LEGO considers sharing even more of this sort of behind-the-scenes content in the future — whether in print, on TV, or online. One way or another, I'm sure I've got a lot to look forward to. :)

The book definitely sounds good, but I also can't help but envy that access to Lego's "digital archive". Even beyond things like unreleased products and concepts, (which would be a gold mine) I bet that would also include things like high-quality files of some older official set pics and box art—the kinds of things that might never have been readily available on the web in the past, and could have a huge impact for a site like Brickset! It also would likely include the kinds of "story bibles" and style guides that I'd love to nerd out over as a Lego fan who has worked in brand writing.

Why won’t the book be printed after the Kickstarter is over? Seems like a missed opportunity to just print it once and never again.

I truely hope the book will be good enough for the Lego company to eventually make it available to order through LEGO webstore.
As much as I'm tempted I will not order an expensive book a year ahead (especially without even a single page to preview). Unlike other crowdfunding sites, unbound supposedly will charge you immediately, yet there is still 1 year to go before delivery. I've seen only some of print-on-demand made books and been disappointed (cheaper price, less quality) - can't find anything on printing method and type of paper for this book. The price is already rather steep and since it ships from UK, there will be the added costs from customs fees and taxes (additional fees depending on the courier) - worst case scenario the book may end up costing 120+ EUR. Yet I'd still hesitate if it were readily available on Lego.com for 49.99 EUR.

I would like a digital copy but it says it’s in black and white. Will the normal book also be black and white? Is it possible to get a full colour digital copy?

It's kind of weird. "The best, deepest dive book for AFOLs ever with unprecedented access.... BUT it's a one off run and you have to buy it in advance before it's gone forever!!"

Why wouldn't LEGO work with a regular publisher on such an enticing book? There's definitely an audience for it.

Plus, for such a high ticket book - and that is a high price for the physical book - I'd like to read some actual reviews and not just pre-release hype, as good as it sounds.

@Huw said:
"I think £50/$75 is a small price to pay for a well-researched book written by an expert that will contain material never before seen and of great interest to the discerning AFOL.
"

This book project has been shrouded in a manufactured air of mystery since it was announced, so I appreciate the interview providing a bit of insight. But it is still largely unwritten, which makes the glowing praise hard and expensive preorders difficult to reconcile.

I think the crowdfunding model is a poor fit for the literary world. I wish the author the best, but I think it is just as premature to heap glowing praise upon this book today as it would be to preorder and recommend an unseen Lego set based on only rough description, the name of the designer, and an assurance that they did a lot of research.

There shouldn't be a sliding scale for a "Discerning AFOL". I've always found Brickset pretty balanced for a fan site, but if minarets 0.8 stud too narrow are a fatal flaw for the Taj Mahal, perhaps a speculative project like this could also be held to a high standard.

I'm gonna be blunt: If you want me to shell out $75, minimum, for a book that hasn't been written yet and won't be shipped out for at least a year, I need more than a single black and white photo from the '70s and a bunch of empty hype to convince me. The fact that the pre-orders seem designed to prey on FOMO (won't be available in stores! Only one printing!) leaves an additional bad taste in my mouth.

The book is crowd-funded, written by someone who should be an outsider, but seeing the marketing done by LEGO to promote it and reading this interview, it is just going to be a biased view of the history of the interlocking plastic brick.

If the book was a thriller showing the humble origins of the Danish toy factory, the great fiascos and near bankruptcy, the judicial battles against chinese companies, with a plot twist at the end where we discover that LEGO copied the brick design from Kiddicraft in the late '40s, maybe I would buy it...

@NathanR2015 - Daniel writes regularly for Blocks magazine (and possibly the Brick `Fanatics website - I can't remember). I've always found him to be an interesting, engaging writer.

According to what LEGO told the book is coming from LEGO publishing. The method was chosen as it is something new and 'risky' . (read a corporation with almost 2 billion Eur operating profit won't risk a regular print of a super important AFOL book with DK in case it would be a flop ... )

The book prices in UK and therefore Unbound are without VAT so there is nothing to deduct for export (with Brexit that is pretty much for rest of the world). It also means where non-zero VAT,GST,... exists it will be added on import for recipient to pay.

I talked to their rep a month ago and was told they are "finding their feet with regards to Brexit at the moment" and will currently cover additional shipping surcharges, but "can't guarantee this will always be the case". Usually the courier services charge extra to recipients to do the import paperwork.

The ebook should be in .epub format for iPhones/iPads and probably won't do mobi . They will get the epub files "made professionally". I asked if they will be at least in native iPad ppi of ~260 but haven't got an answer since 3 weeks.

I'll admit that the import costs are something new mostly to EU buyers, yet it was LEGO Publishing's (or approved partner) decision to select UK source on the brink of Brexit and drop this on about 1/3 of they customer base.
Which means having the AFOLs do all imports stuff on their own instead of (for example) moving it to regional warehouses by vendor.

Also selecting a GBP currency and recalculating through CC usually ends cheaper than having the fixed calculation on site (depends on current CC exchange ratio). And no, different currency does not add VAT collection or something else, it is the same content.

I'm honestly very intrigued by the book and it looks like it will turn out absolutely spectacularly. Filled with well researched information and photography. However there are two major issues I have with this.

First, the fact that it's being pushed as only ever being available with this one crowd funding pre-order is very problematic. Crowd funding should be used to cover initial costs and gauge overall interest, but there is absolutely zero reason whatsoever that the book could not be later released to the public through other avenues in different formats (ebooks and physical books, in both hard cover and soft cover bindings). Make the crowd funding perks exclusive for sure - special edition hard covers, etc. but refusing to release the book at a more reasonable price to the public at a later date makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Keeping in mind that the cost for a US buyer of the book through this platform is over $90... that's just ridiculous.

Second, making the ebook option available in only black and white is absolutely robbing people who want to have a more affordable option from being able to enjoy the full benefits of the beautiful photos being collected for this book. It makes it so that you're only getting a second class experience of the material presented.

This is all a true shame, because as I stated to being with, the material itself looks to be both extremely interesting and informative and the work being done sounds like it's top quality. It's very unfortunate that so many people are going to miss out on all of this because it's being made in an unattainable way for many people.