Last year I bought my son the Boost Creative Toolbox for his birthday. He really enjoyed it, but kind of lost interest after a bit. Once he’d gone through the official builds, he didn’t know what to do. I’ve never motorized anything LEGO®, so I wasn’t much help. Luckily, The LEGO Boost Idea Book is here to help.
Yoshihito Isogawa has authored a number of books centered around technic and power functions, so even before I opened the book I was expecting quality. This thick, soft-cover volume fits nicely with his other volumes.
The book is light on text, but full of beautiful color pictures and diagrams. Leafing through, there is an extensive table of contents, followed by a two-page introduction. The most important morsel to share is that everything in this book can be built using the 17101 Boost Creative Toolbox!
After the intro, they dive right into a warm-up build.
Every build in the book starts with a part list, followed by clear building instructions and just enough text to explain what’s going on. They also include the Boost programs for each model. There is a note that some of the functions won’t be available if you haven’t built all the original models yet.
Each chapter begins with a breakdown of the models that it covers, depicted by icons that explain the functions. This makes for great reference, as you can quickly find the model based on the kind of motion that you are trying to create. Awesome for technic noobs like me!
There are 95 models in the book. By the end of the book, they have gotten complex enough to get some cool machines out of the kit.
This is a great book and a fine addition to my reference shelf. If you don’t have any interest in Boost, then there won’t be much here for you, but I think that the potential for adding programmed motion to models is super cool!
I know that my son is excited about getting his hands on the book and I’m excited to see what he builds!
Buy the book:
- No Starch Press (buy the book and get the ebook for free)
- Amazon
- Powell’s Books (support an independent bookstore)
Keep building and enjoy!