The LEGO® Technic Idea Book: Simple Machines

I have this book and the wheeled wonders book, and I find them both equally fascinating and a pleasure to work on the many model ideas in the books. There are a ton of ideas here, so you can work with whatever technic parts you have. I had a few parts from the kit "Lego Crazy Action Contraptions" that I had bought earlier, so I was able to build a few machines from this book. However looking at all the other pictures in this book, I was soon wanting more parts and hit the bricklink site as suggested by the author and publisher in amazon comments. The parts list and links to bricklink catalog put up by the author on his web page was super helpful. I have built several of the models in this book and the wheeled wonders book and they have all been a joy to work on. My 6 year old daughter enjoys building them as well with some guidance. I intend to keep enjoying models from this book for a long time to come, and hopefully this will spark some original ideas of my own. I will be getting the third idea book as well. Thank you, Isogawa san, for an excellent book.

This book showcases hundreds of creative Technic models you can build by just looking at pictures. Using color-coded pieces and photos from various angles, the book makes it easy to recreate the designs without needing detailed instructions. Each model highlights a unique concept or mechanism to spark ideas for your own creations. The models shown in this book demonstrate how to use gears, shafts, pulleys, turntables, and connectors to build functional devices like cranes, doors, motorized cars, rubber band-powered rockets, drag racers, and even musical instruments (which is quite unique). This book compliments other books by the master builder Isogawa.

This book gives you photos of different ways of using those non-brick Lego pieces, including gears, rods, hollow rods, etc. I bought it as a gift for an 11-year old great nephew who loves his Legos.

this was neat for my 11 year old nephew and he loves legos and reading so it was a perfect gift for that age

Great book for ideas when you’re out of ideas. Great gift for kids.

This book is something of a disappointment. In all honesty, it is what it says it is, an idea book. It consists of nothing but page after page of pictures of machines made with lego Technic bricks. There are no step by step instructions, and from the pictures you can not always see how things are made. For an advanced user it might well be useful for new ideas. For me as a relative beginner, it will go on the shelf until I get more skilled.

I love that this book doesn't spoon feed instructions step by step, and deliberately includes so many pieces that nobody (except maybe the author) actually has exactly the pieces shown in all of the book's models. The whole point of LEGO is that kids learn to think and design, which is difficult to do when they are trained to precisely follow someone else's ideas every step of the way. These models are IDEAS, to get creative juices flowing and maybe help bridge some areas where children aren't sure how to proceed with their own ideas. There are many resources out there for people too lazy to figure out how to build their own model of "X," but always following others' ideas destroys self confidence. Children only learn that they could "never" design something so complicated, and stop trying. It is much better to look at a great idea and then have to figure out how to make it work (or improve it!) with the materials actually on hand. Much more real world, and trains children to observe, think, and experiment, not just follow rote directions for snapping "tab A into slot B."

I loved this book and it's format. It is just pictures of different simple machines and variations of them. It is a great way to learn simple machines and because it is only pictures with no explanations, figuring out the builds feels like puzzles. With each successful build, you feel a sense of pride and because you actually have to figure it out and not just follow a set of step-by-step instructions you actually learn SO MUCH more. If you don't already have a ton of technic parts then I would recommend buying a few generic technic part kits then you will have everything you need to play with this book. I am 48 years old and this book will keep me busy for days or weeks.

El libro es precioso. Los modelos son muy facilmente realizables (niños de 5 y 7 años). Que no vengan acompañados de instrucciones no es un problema. Ya que son modelos con un diseño muy simplificado, con pocas piezas y estan fotografiados desde todos los angulos necesarios para que se vean los detalles. Este libro de la serie (Simple Machines) explica mediante ejemplos todos los mecanismos necesarios para construir maquinas simples como puertas automaticas, coches, gruas o sistemas de transporte. Lo mas importante de estos libros para mi (son tres) es que todo se construye usando un pequeño catalogo de piezas. Si te fijas bien cada pieza tiene un color en funcion de su tamaño. Y son siempre las mismas piezas. La ventaja es que de ese modo es muy facil para el niño aunque a veces no se vea bien saber que pieza es. El problema es que no hay forma de conseguir un set de esas piezas exactas. La alternativa está en bricklink.com Yo recomiendo dedicar un rato a comprar las piezas. Sobretodo las mas normales. La lista de piezas (demasiado simplificada) se puede descargar de aqui [....]

Molto bello perché è istruttivo e permette di creare capendo quello che si sta facendo senza dover seguire istruzioni passo passo. Lo consiglio a tutti gli appassionati di lego.

Vale a pena para começar no mundo das pequenas máquinas com Lego !

Inte riktigt vad jag hade väntat mig. Jag hade trott det skulle finnas instruktioner och tydliga steg-för-steg-guider eller skisser och listor över alla nödvändiga delar som behövs, men det är bara massa bilder på olika byggen, och för någon som är nybörjare och inte så lätt förstår hur alla byggen konstruerats är det nästan omöjligt att efterhärma dessa byggen.

Mes fils de 6 et 9 ans l'adorent