 
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide
Rating:  -
I wanted a book that would help me to build better machines with my set and this was not it. I sent mine back the next day. Items made from basic lego sets unrelated to the NXT are in the book as well as hacking into items not related to the NXT. Book is was disapointing.
Rating:  -
We are very pleased with this book.
We have seen and or read almost every other Lego book we have been able to get our hands/eyes on and this is by far our best pick and it was very reasonable in price compared to all of the others.
We have and use the NXT in our home school in combination with Python and Kturtle.
We also hack frequently and with relish.
The hacks in this book are straight forward and really pretty easy but also practical. The power supply hack pays for the book in agro alone.
The lead up to the hacks is excellent. The history of the brick and the history of Logo (not LEGO) are instructive and to an end useful. The author gives no credit to Jim Henson nor the countless FSS/OSS nor the likes of Collins (Pearl) and the virtual Lego software hackers. Perhaps a case of the hand that feeds but the author says nothing of problems with the software or the bluetooth interface and makes no mention of the "Non Microsoft/Apple" universe. On the other hand he states right up front he is working for LEGO and I must agree that getting "Surprise" packs from Lego in the mail with NXTs in them would tend to mute my critical remarks.
The hacks are clear enough and cool enough and have just enough exotica to make them tempting. They do inspire and without too much intimidation. The addition of BIONICAL bits instead of "true" hacking of say usb cameras and sharp bits from the kitchen is perhaps wisdom not product group loyalty but your little hackers, scientists and robot enthusiasts will soon depart from the text won't they.
To sum up...
This is NOT a good book for the casual Lego build nor those thinking to pass on their kid's NXT to another generation. This in a book for the truly immersed and those who delight in hacking. It is informative and inspires and at a very good price.
We gave it 4 stars because it could have easily and naturally included the above mentioned omissions and that is a shame because there is such a rich and diverse universe there for the true hacker, Lego or otherwise.
Rating: -
I really looked forward to reading the book, based on the publisher's comments.
What a waste of time....and money.
Rating: -
All of the above reviews are accurate. I am a Lego Robotics Coach and wanted some advanced insight into NXT. Here is what I got:
Dozens of pages on how to build a shippling container.
Dozens of pages on how to build a geodesic dome (the role an NXT brick plays is to hange from a crane!)
Dozens of pages on how to build a replica of the Seattle public library.
Dozens of obscure references to science fiction.
References to AVR and other development kits (actually this may be interesting, but totally off topic.)
There is some hope: I should be able to write down some random thoughts, get it published and retire!
Rating: -
I was too lazy to write any review. The one good thing about this book is that it motivates me to type something here.
The title is completely misleading. What NXT? More than 80% of the book talked about something else. The the few NXT examples were so simple that you don't need to be a "hacker" to do it. The book mostly contained only pictures with short captions (no text). There are often jumps between one picture to the next. So, it is hardly a "guide" at all.
What left to the title is "Lego Mindstorm", but the book is not 100% about that either. (Like, how shipping containers were used to build a building.)
Too bad Amazon doesn't offer reivew of zero stars.
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