Meredith Bak wrote this book review in (2015) Volume 8, Number 1 at the American Journal of Play. You may download the abstract here (PDF) and the full text here (PDF).
Over more than fifty years, LEGO sets have expanded from an open-ended building system to include instructions for building specific models, themed play sets, and licensed products. More recently, the company has become a transmedia empire with books, games, educational products, a feature film, and more. LEGO Studies works from the premise that LEGO is a distinct medium that warrants closer consideration. The book offers fifteen essays incorporating play theory, games studies, cultural studies, media industries scholarship, fan cultures, adaptation studies, and other disciplines to articulate both LEGO’s cultural significance and to explore the many complex ways that LEGO products work in play.
