Books

Is your kid good at spelling? Throw ’em a curve ball with P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, an A to Z guide to a few of the many quirks of the English language, with its silent consonants and other rule-breaking pronunciations. (Thanks Nathan!)

Do you aspire to someday make an awesome LEGO railway like this one? Holger Matthes’ book could be the place to start. The hardcover book features 248 pages packed with the history of LEGO trains, and instructions for building your own working LEGO railroad.

Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia covers the first 17 games in the series, from the original Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario 3D World. It contains information about major and minor characters, spinoff games and more. There’s also a limited edition.

Inspired by a design submitted by Grant Davis and Jason Allemann, this 859-piece LEGO kit lets builders create two different scenes inside the “pages” of a pop-up book, each based on a classic fairy tale – Little Red Riding Hood or Jack and the Beanstalk. Drops 11/1/18.

Gestalten’s The Current: New Wheels for the Post-Petrol Age looks at the history and evolution of electric motorcycles, bicycles, and everything in between. It showcases some of the best and most unique examples of this two-wheeled revolution.

A fantastic collection of artwork and history from the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. The hardcover book includes over 700 pieces of art from the game’s core books, supplements, modules, concepts, and merch. A deluxe special edition includes posters and other bonuses.

Dinosaur Comics creator Ryan North wants to be competent if he ever became a time traveler. So he wrote How to Invent Everything, a funny but informative history guide that will help time travelers rebuild civilization in case their journey goes awry.

Expert LEGO designer and builder Jeff Friesen presents an amazing book for LEGO fanatics, architecture fanatics, and anyone who enjoys building things. It includes plans for building 50 different models as part of 8 fantastic LEGO micro cities. Drops 10/30/18.

Written by YouTuber Luke Goodman aka Out of Darts, The NERF Blaster Modification Guide is an unofficial handbook that has everything you need to know about modding NERF weapons, from the basics to more advanced processes such as 3D printing.

The perfect gift book for adventure and travel junkies, Scott McNeely & Arthur Mount’s book is packed with dozens of ideas for unique experiences and destinations, from driving to the bottom of the Earth, to running a marathon against horses, to tomato fights in Brazil.

Taschen, George Lucas, and Lucasfilm present The Star Wars Archive, a series of books about the making of the movies. The 604 page Volume 1 covers Episodes IV to VI, with “script pages, production documents, concept art, storyboards, on-set photos, stills, and posters.”

Ease the wait for Rick and Morty‘s fourth season with Adult Swim’s The Art of Rick and Morty book. It contains never before seen sketches and designs for the show’s characters, details of the writer’s room and more. It’s also available as an eBook.

Stefan Bogner and Ben Winter’s Cars & Curves: A Tribute to 70 Years of Porsche features pictures of awesome sports cars, from the 906 to the Carrera GT, each in their natural environment. The beautiful photos are punctuated by essays about each featured car.

The LEGO Book charts the history of the famed toy company as well as its ever growing line of products. The New Edition adds LEGO’s latest sets, including the ones from LEGO Ideas. It also comes with an exclusive 2×4 LEGO brick. Drops 10/2/18.

Learn how to make Nuka-Cola, BlamCo Mac & Cheese, Deathclaw Steak and more with the Fallout: The Vault Dweller’s Official Cookbook. This hardcover book contains dozens of recipes based on or inspired by the food from the video game series. Drops 10/23/18.

(PG-13: Language) Comedian and artist Dominic Moschitti aka Paperback Paradise peppers Instagram with hilarious edits of book covers from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. He sells some of the covers as packs of postcards on his website.

In 2018, you keep your appointments in your smartphone. In 2019, you’ll keep the really important ones in your F*cking Brilliant 12-Month Planner book. This cheeky organizer features stylish calligraphy, a gold foil stamped cover, monthly tabs, and plenty of swearing.

The Sega Arcade: Pop-Up History is a pop-up book that celebrates the work of game designer Yu Suzuki. It includes pop-up models of the arcade machines for Hang-On, Space Harrier, OutRun, ThunderBlade and After Burner along with their stories.

Zupagrafika’s cut-out model book lets you build your own cold and impersonal miniature city filled with the brutalist architecture of Central and Eastern Europe. Includes seven buildings from Serbia, Moldova, Russia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.

Syracuse University Libraries’ Preservation department shows us how to save a water-logged book and restore it back to its original condition. All you need is some paper towels, a fan and some weights. You should also store it in the freezer if you can’t work on it right away.

Thomas Pavitte’s clever illustrations offer a unique spin on adult coloring books. Each image is hidden within a pair of concentric spirals, which only reveals itself as you fill in the lines. Use two colors to create a duotone. Choose from music icons, cities, or animals.

Let Beastie Boys members Adrock and Mike D walk you through their story in “revealing and funny accounts”, from their amateur days to the release of their classic albums. Also features contributions from their friends such as Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson.

Ferrari gave premiere coffee table book publisher Taschen full access to its archives as well as those of some of its most avid collectors to create this 514-page masterpiece. The Art Edition comes in an engine-inspired aluminum display case designed by Marc Newson.

Publisher Assouline is coming out with a hardcover book about one of the world’s most popular toys. Hot Wheels features 300 pages and over 200 illustrations, covering the origins, evolution and even the future of the brand. Featuring a foreword by racer Mario Andretti.

Urban planner and game designer Konstantinos Dimopoulos is working on Virtual Cities, an atlas featuring the cities in video games. It will feature maps, analysis and more for over 40 video game cities, including Half-Life‘s City 17, GTA V‘s Los Santos and Silent Hill.

Back when science fiction was considered pulp fiction, art directors and artists had the freedom to run wild with the cover art for sci-fi books. Nerdwriter pays homage to some of these notable people and their work, and reminds us to have a greater appreciation for cover art.

The latest in illustrator Steve McDonald’s series of intricate coloring books features an array of wondrous mechanical and solid state creations, including a space station, submarine, jumbo jet, and a pinball machine. Be sure to grab the matching set of colored pencils for gift giving.