ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 19th December 2014 - "Minecraft Blockopedia" (Mojang / Egmont)

Like a super-exploding box of TNT this absolutely STUNNING book exploded through our letterbox and caused a huge amount of fuss. Egmont's "Minecraft: Blockopedia" is no ordinary Minecraft book, it's a block in itself and has to be a real contender for "Book Design of the Year".

Clad in a black monolithic box that screams Stanley Ku-brick (see what we did there?) at you, it's a real treat for the eyes before you've even opened the cover (and the whole forced perspective design has royally messed with your senses.

So what's inside? A block-by-block breakdown of the world's most popular game. Kids love it, adults secretly run off and play it when the kids are asleep, and it's become something of an obsession as the game has spawned merchandise, Lego (which is a real head flip - a game about building spawning a bunch of sets for building things with) and of course lovely lovely books.

Open up this fantastic book for deep knowledge about Minecraft's world. Ice? Nice!

There are two schools of thought when it comes to learning all the intricacies of Minecraft (and it is a game that looks deceptively simple, don't be fooled by the graphics - inside the game beats the heart of a living breathing world that's just waiting for you to shape it in whichever way you choose). Some folk stick to learning their 'craft online, with the various wikipedias, youtube videos and other sources of info. That feels a bit too much like cheating to us. So with the Blockopedia you'll get the inside track on every type of block and material in the game, plus a few you may not have even encountered yet (so be warned, there may be spoilers ahead but they're well posted!) but won't necessarily be shown the best methods of how to short-cut the game (aside from one tiny instance of learning a very quick way to make stone which is absolutely ingenious!)

We'd never even seen a daylight sensor before. Now we know what they're for and how to use them!

Charlotte seized this book and that was the last I saw of it for a while, as she'd tuck herself up in bed at night with it (and her torch - though thankfully not the Minecraft 'flaming' kind) teasing nuggets of information the next morning that 'silly old daddy' won't know. I was petrified that the book might get damaged as the hexagonal pages are a bit tricky to get hold of as you're flipping through, but the book is beautifully presented and made of sturdy stuff so it'll last a lifetime if treated right.

Really though, it's all about the detail in this - it's exhaustive, knowledgeable and authoritative, a real "must buy" for your own little Minecraft obsessives. Perfection comes at a price though, but hunt around for a good deal on this one and you'll find lots of retailers lopping a tenner off the hefty £30 RRP. Put it this way though, it's not just a book it's a real collector's item in its presentation box, so if you want something that's going to really up your game as well as be something that looks utterly gorgeous laid on your coffee table fooling people into thinking you've left a real life minecraft block there, then this is definitely for you!

If you'd like to see more from Egmont's amazing Minecraft book range, do check out our Minecraft Theme Week for more!

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte is obsessed with The Nether at the moment, and loved learning about the best ways to stay alive in that particularly inhospitable environment thanks to this awesome book!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Utterly amazing, beautiful, stunning - we almost ran out of superlatives for this one. It's like "The Knowledge" for Minecraft fans, wrapped up in a truly jaw-dropping book design. Whoah!

(Kindly sent to us for review by those awsome folk at Egmont UK - our deepest thanks!)