What do you think?
Rate this book
LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
The ultimate collection of LEGO® facts and figures in brick-sized bites of trivia.
Can you believe that a wooden duck was one of the first LEGO toys? Or that the LEGO Group is one of the world's largest tyre manufacturers? Have you seen the LEGO Batman minifigure with glow-in-the-dark eyes? And do you know where to find the glass slipper in The Disney Castle set? LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need To Know is crammed with fun and fascinating trivia for LEGO fans of every age.
From minuscule minifigure tools to the largest LEGOLAND® model, this book covers all the places, populations, pieces and themes that form the LEGO world.
© 2017 The LEGO Group.
Can you believe that a wooden duck was one of the first LEGO toys? Or that the LEGO Group is one of the world's largest tyre manufacturers? Have you seen the LEGO Batman minifigure with glow-in-the-dark eyes? And do you know where to find the glass slipper in The Disney Castle set? LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need To Know is crammed with fun and fascinating trivia for LEGO fans of every age.
From minuscule minifigure tools to the largest LEGOLAND® model, this book covers all the places, populations, pieces and themes that form the LEGO world.
© 2017 The LEGO Group.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published September 7, 2017
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 9, 2026
LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (and read on Open Library) was published in 2017 by D.K. Children (and thus there is unfortunately no bibliography included, which certainly is a trifle annoying as well as frustrating for me personally but truth be told I have become both used to this regarding D.K. Publishing and kind of no longer care all that much since there really is nothing to be done regarding this either, thus no biggie so to speak).
Therefore, the absence of acknowledged sources (except for photo credits) notwithstanding, the plethora of LEGO themed and based facts and the many colourful LEGO visuals author Simon Hugo provides with and in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, this is glorious, this is absolutely extensive (but is also and thankfully so not in-depth, is not overly analytical, is just plainly but delightfully presented LEGO trivia), with this all being engagingly penned by Hugo and indeed representing the kind of collection of facts, history and figures I tended to adore (and relentlessly pore over) as a tween and still hugely appreciate as well as enjoy reading now as an older adult. And especially as someone who loved loved loved playing and building imaginative constructions with LEGO during my childhood and indeed even as a teenager, in the 1970s and in the early 1980s (both in Germany and later post our immigration in Canada), I do find LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know both enchanting and nostalgic, although admittedly, I as and older LEGO fanatic who actually has always preferred simply constructing imaginative abstractions, I do sometimes find Simon Hugo's focus in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know just a bit too realism based (as I certainly never enjoyed my LEGO Castle, my LEGO vehicles, my LEGO humanoids and my LEGO Kitchen nearly as much as simply playing and building with LEGO blocks, constructing simple but colourful towers, large square and triangular buildings, bridges and the like).
Now the scale of information encountered in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know is superb, and indeed, Hugo in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know covers pretty much everything (LEGO colour schemes, diverse LEGO animals, LEGO parks, reinventions, new inventions, pop culture-tie-ins and oh so much more), that LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know is truly impressive and definitely gives LEGO fans both young and old pretty much everything they really would ever want to know about LEGO from 1934 (from when the first LEGO blocks were constructed and sold in Denmark) right until the present day, well, that is until 2017 (until when LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know was published). Four stars for LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (and no, I am not taking a star off for the lack of a bibliography but because I find it rather annoying that Simon Hugo has placed the historical section of LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know as the last chapter when for me this should really be the first chapter).
Therefore, the absence of acknowledged sources (except for photo credits) notwithstanding, the plethora of LEGO themed and based facts and the many colourful LEGO visuals author Simon Hugo provides with and in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, this is glorious, this is absolutely extensive (but is also and thankfully so not in-depth, is not overly analytical, is just plainly but delightfully presented LEGO trivia), with this all being engagingly penned by Hugo and indeed representing the kind of collection of facts, history and figures I tended to adore (and relentlessly pore over) as a tween and still hugely appreciate as well as enjoy reading now as an older adult. And especially as someone who loved loved loved playing and building imaginative constructions with LEGO during my childhood and indeed even as a teenager, in the 1970s and in the early 1980s (both in Germany and later post our immigration in Canada), I do find LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know both enchanting and nostalgic, although admittedly, I as and older LEGO fanatic who actually has always preferred simply constructing imaginative abstractions, I do sometimes find Simon Hugo's focus in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know just a bit too realism based (as I certainly never enjoyed my LEGO Castle, my LEGO vehicles, my LEGO humanoids and my LEGO Kitchen nearly as much as simply playing and building with LEGO blocks, constructing simple but colourful towers, large square and triangular buildings, bridges and the like).
Now the scale of information encountered in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know is superb, and indeed, Hugo in LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know covers pretty much everything (LEGO colour schemes, diverse LEGO animals, LEGO parks, reinventions, new inventions, pop culture-tie-ins and oh so much more), that LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know is truly impressive and definitely gives LEGO fans both young and old pretty much everything they really would ever want to know about LEGO from 1934 (from when the first LEGO blocks were constructed and sold in Denmark) right until the present day, well, that is until 2017 (until when LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know was published). Four stars for LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (and no, I am not taking a star off for the lack of a bibliography but because I find it rather annoying that Simon Hugo has placed the historical section of LEGO Absolutely Everything You Need to Know as the last chapter when for me this should really be the first chapter).
February 5, 2026
I didn't read all of this, and I likely won't, but I've seen enough to know it gets four stars. The only reason I'm withholding the fifth star is because there are a few things in it I'm not all that interested in. Lego has branched out into so many different directions, and I'm just apathetic about some of the themes and sets.
Like the title says, this tells you everything you want to know about Legos, as well as several things you didn't want to know. There's history, details on various sets, minifigures, special pieces, themes, trivia, special exhibits, theme parks, stats, factory production tidbits, movies, TV shows, video games... everything. I found out several things I didn't know, and ended up buying a few minifigures I suddenly discovered I just had to have. I have a Lego brick calendar you rebuild every month, and I display the minifigs on that. This month a few DC superheroes/villains are modeling, but there could be anything up there from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, regular ones like the castle people, pirates, Robin Hood and friends, and... well, there's no point in listing all of them; I'd be here forever.
I'm quite the Lego nut, and I have I don't know how many sets. Might even be hundreds. (This is easy to do when you've been collecting for your entire life.) I have an entire file cabinet filled with instructions (though it's just a two drawer file cabinet. I'm not so sick that I can fill up a four drawer deal!) I've been to a couple of conventions and shows, and would go to more if I didn't have a thing about crowds. I used to belong to a Lego club that had monthly meetings, but I was the odd man out there; those dudes were hardcore. I get sets, build those, and that's pretty much it. The others would build custom creations, and they were pretty amazing at it. I'm too anal to mix up my bricks. I would from time to time, but I'd always make sure they got back to the set they belonged to. Still, it was fun hanging out with like-minded peeps.
There's really not much more to say about this, so I'll just post a few pictures I've taken over the years because I can. These represent the barest fraction of everything I have... And considering that and looking at them now, I think I might need professional help. Surely my money could be better spent elsewhere... NAH!
Big Ben, which was in this book along with several other sets I have. I wish I could find a picture of the London Tower Bridge which is one of my favorite sets, but it seems I didn't take one, or I just can't find it.
Charlotte, a VW Bug, and a fave. I've built this one at least three times. I sometimes think it's a shame I don't have enough space to build and display everything, but then I wouldn't be able to take them apart and build them again a couple of years later, and where would be the fun in that? As for Charlotte here, there's an engine under the hood, and a spare tire in the trunk, but you know what the coolest thing about this is? The dimmer switch for the headlights on the floorboard by the clutch. It's just a round single stud piece, about the smallest piece you can get, but the fact that they thought to include that level of detail just tickled me.
The Sydney Opera house, along with three mice I crocheted. They were playing the part of the singing mice on Babe for a picture story I wrote for some friends. This actually isn't my set, but a friend was kind enough to let me help him build it one weekend a few years ago.
A little closer to home, here's the Statue of Liberty with a BB-8 I made. I think he was trying to get insurance with Liberty Mutual with this one.
The White House, or at least the old one which doesn't have the wings. I have the new one which does have the wings, but haven't put it together yet. One day, one day. There's also a Nanoblock Big Ben crowding in.
The Capitol, along with an origami ghost I keep around, and a Nanoblock Eiffel Tower.
And speaking of that, here's the olde German radio tower itself in Lego. Another one I've built three or four times. I think this was about 11 years ago... Wow, doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I wrote that story.
The Eiffel might be my favorite tower, but Orthanc is pretty sweet too. It came with an Ent who is holding up a crocheted cigarette here.
"I am Alder, tree of the dining room and defender of the secrets of the Tower of Orthanc. Off camera is Cottonwood, my fearless friend. Carcinogenic powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft this fabric fag and said BY THE TOWER OF ORTHANC, I HAVE THE CANCER! Cottonwood became ashes, and I became Brazilian Walnut, the hardest wood in the universe. Only a few others share this secret, Pierce and anyone with internet access who wanders into this book review. Together, Pierce and I defend Tower Orthanc from the evil forces of Saw-a-tor." (And if you followed that, you must be an 80's kid. Rock on.)
One of my most recent acquisitions, the 1989 Batmobile! Along with a little Batman. Rod Roddy was telling him he had just won a BRAND NEW CAAAAAAARRRR!!!
And speaking of movie cars, Doc Brown and Marty popped in with their DeLorean while the Ghostbusters tackled Slimer in the background.
You gotta be careful with the minifigures you put on the calendar each month lest the get into mischief. The October monsters were flat out tearing up a baby afghan I was working on one night. It's a good thing I got up for some water and was able to put a stop to it before they destroyed the whole thing.
And since my Lego obsession is outmatched only by my Star Wars obsession, I creamed my jeans when they announced they were merging the two. You can collect a lot of stuff in 22 years. Here's everything Star Wars related I had about 15 years ago, and I'm afraid it's probably doubled since then... You know, maybe this is pretty sick... NAH!
Boba Fett's Slave I. The things in front of it are catnip fish I made for someone, and the little gray thing is Han Solo in carbonite. It was a "Han Solo sleeps with the fishies" moment. Yeah, pretty dumb, but you can't have a gem every time. However, that story inexplicably linked to Loituma's Ievan's Polkka, the best song ever written! It kind of makes me wish I were Finnish so I could go dance with them. Sure, it's gay as hell, but so am I, so we're well matched.
Red Five and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced, spending some time with me at work.
Another favorite build I've done a few times, the second Death Star.
Most people think it looks the way it did because it was incomplete, but the truth of the matter is that the Insecticons had been snacking on it before the rebels arrived.
Several years ago I had three versions of several ships, large, medium, and small. Here they all are except the deluxe Millennium Falcon which is still in the box behind everything. It would be the crown jewel of my collection for a while. This came out in 2007, and I'm afraid I got the new super deluxe Millennium Falcon that came out a couple of years ago, though I also haven't built that yet either. (There are just too many people in the house right now, and we can't spare the space for such an ambitious undertaking.)
Well, I had to get it. The new one has 7,541 pieces, and the old one had just a piddly 5,195. See, it just barely covers the the dining room table. Everyone should have a Lego set that covers two tables when you lay out all the parts... You know, this might be beyond sick... NAH!
Thankfully, some of my Lego construction vehicles were able to help me out along the way.
And now presenting the piece de resistance... well, until I get the other one built... and the Taj Mahal and Hogwarts that I also have waiting in the wings.
Thank you for indulging me and my Lego fetish. And thank you to everyone who put this book together.
Like the title says, this tells you everything you want to know about Legos, as well as several things you didn't want to know. There's history, details on various sets, minifigures, special pieces, themes, trivia, special exhibits, theme parks, stats, factory production tidbits, movies, TV shows, video games... everything. I found out several things I didn't know, and ended up buying a few minifigures I suddenly discovered I just had to have. I have a Lego brick calendar you rebuild every month, and I display the minifigs on that. This month a few DC superheroes/villains are modeling, but there could be anything up there from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, regular ones like the castle people, pirates, Robin Hood and friends, and... well, there's no point in listing all of them; I'd be here forever.
I'm quite the Lego nut, and I have I don't know how many sets. Might even be hundreds. (This is easy to do when you've been collecting for your entire life.) I have an entire file cabinet filled with instructions (though it's just a two drawer file cabinet. I'm not so sick that I can fill up a four drawer deal!) I've been to a couple of conventions and shows, and would go to more if I didn't have a thing about crowds. I used to belong to a Lego club that had monthly meetings, but I was the odd man out there; those dudes were hardcore. I get sets, build those, and that's pretty much it. The others would build custom creations, and they were pretty amazing at it. I'm too anal to mix up my bricks. I would from time to time, but I'd always make sure they got back to the set they belonged to. Still, it was fun hanging out with like-minded peeps.
There's really not much more to say about this, so I'll just post a few pictures I've taken over the years because I can. These represent the barest fraction of everything I have... And considering that and looking at them now, I think I might need professional help. Surely my money could be better spent elsewhere... NAH!
Big Ben, which was in this book along with several other sets I have. I wish I could find a picture of the London Tower Bridge which is one of my favorite sets, but it seems I didn't take one, or I just can't find it.
Charlotte, a VW Bug, and a fave. I've built this one at least three times. I sometimes think it's a shame I don't have enough space to build and display everything, but then I wouldn't be able to take them apart and build them again a couple of years later, and where would be the fun in that? As for Charlotte here, there's an engine under the hood, and a spare tire in the trunk, but you know what the coolest thing about this is? The dimmer switch for the headlights on the floorboard by the clutch. It's just a round single stud piece, about the smallest piece you can get, but the fact that they thought to include that level of detail just tickled me.
The Sydney Opera house, along with three mice I crocheted. They were playing the part of the singing mice on Babe for a picture story I wrote for some friends. This actually isn't my set, but a friend was kind enough to let me help him build it one weekend a few years ago.
A little closer to home, here's the Statue of Liberty with a BB-8 I made. I think he was trying to get insurance with Liberty Mutual with this one.
The White House, or at least the old one which doesn't have the wings. I have the new one which does have the wings, but haven't put it together yet. One day, one day. There's also a Nanoblock Big Ben crowding in.
The Capitol, along with an origami ghost I keep around, and a Nanoblock Eiffel Tower.
And speaking of that, here's the olde German radio tower itself in Lego. Another one I've built three or four times. I think this was about 11 years ago... Wow, doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I wrote that story.
The Eiffel might be my favorite tower, but Orthanc is pretty sweet too. It came with an Ent who is holding up a crocheted cigarette here.
"I am Alder, tree of the dining room and defender of the secrets of the Tower of Orthanc. Off camera is Cottonwood, my fearless friend. Carcinogenic powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft this fabric fag and said BY THE TOWER OF ORTHANC, I HAVE THE CANCER! Cottonwood became ashes, and I became Brazilian Walnut, the hardest wood in the universe. Only a few others share this secret, Pierce and anyone with internet access who wanders into this book review. Together, Pierce and I defend Tower Orthanc from the evil forces of Saw-a-tor." (And if you followed that, you must be an 80's kid. Rock on.)
One of my most recent acquisitions, the 1989 Batmobile! Along with a little Batman. Rod Roddy was telling him he had just won a BRAND NEW CAAAAAAARRRR!!!
And speaking of movie cars, Doc Brown and Marty popped in with their DeLorean while the Ghostbusters tackled Slimer in the background.
You gotta be careful with the minifigures you put on the calendar each month lest the get into mischief. The October monsters were flat out tearing up a baby afghan I was working on one night. It's a good thing I got up for some water and was able to put a stop to it before they destroyed the whole thing.
And since my Lego obsession is outmatched only by my Star Wars obsession, I creamed my jeans when they announced they were merging the two. You can collect a lot of stuff in 22 years. Here's everything Star Wars related I had about 15 years ago, and I'm afraid it's probably doubled since then... You know, maybe this is pretty sick... NAH!
Boba Fett's Slave I. The things in front of it are catnip fish I made for someone, and the little gray thing is Han Solo in carbonite. It was a "Han Solo sleeps with the fishies" moment. Yeah, pretty dumb, but you can't have a gem every time. However, that story inexplicably linked to Loituma's Ievan's Polkka, the best song ever written! It kind of makes me wish I were Finnish so I could go dance with them. Sure, it's gay as hell, but so am I, so we're well matched.
Red Five and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced, spending some time with me at work.
Another favorite build I've done a few times, the second Death Star.
Most people think it looks the way it did because it was incomplete, but the truth of the matter is that the Insecticons had been snacking on it before the rebels arrived.
Several years ago I had three versions of several ships, large, medium, and small. Here they all are except the deluxe Millennium Falcon which is still in the box behind everything. It would be the crown jewel of my collection for a while. This came out in 2007, and I'm afraid I got the new super deluxe Millennium Falcon that came out a couple of years ago, though I also haven't built that yet either. (There are just too many people in the house right now, and we can't spare the space for such an ambitious undertaking.)
Well, I had to get it. The new one has 7,541 pieces, and the old one had just a piddly 5,195. See, it just barely covers the the dining room table. Everyone should have a Lego set that covers two tables when you lay out all the parts... You know, this might be beyond sick... NAH!
Thankfully, some of my Lego construction vehicles were able to help me out along the way.
And now presenting the piece de resistance... well, until I get the other one built... and the Taj Mahal and Hogwarts that I also have waiting in the wings.
Thank you for indulging me and my Lego fetish. And thank you to everyone who put this book together.
September 11, 2022
This book really does what the title says. It tells you everything about Lego! It starts with the history - Lego was first made out of wood not plastic and they didn't even make bricks at first! It has so many facts that you might not think you wanted to know until you read it. It also has colour pictures and timelines all the way through. It is very interesting and I am still learning something new about my favourite toy everytime I pick it up.
September 27, 2017
This had a TON of info, but surprisingly was still missing stuff I wanted to see. I definitely didn't read everything. This book could last you forever, lol. So much content.. but neat overall.
January 27, 2020
Lego maniacs this book is for you
January 6, 2018
Asher (11yo) read. "Really changes my outlook on Lego. I want some of these sets - especially the ultimate collector series!"
December 9, 2019
This is a pretty awesome nonfiction book to tell you more about Lego and their creations. I wouldn't say it was a winner with my five year old, but it was okay. We may revisit it when he's older.
November 21, 2018
Informative and self-aggrandizing.
July 15, 2019
508 - 2019
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews