LEGO: A Love Story

by Jonathan Bender

Overview

An adult LEGO fan's dual quest: to build with bricks and build a family

There are 62 LEGO bricks for every person in the world, and at age 30, Jonathan Bender realized that he didn't have a single one of them. While reconsidering his childhood dream of becoming a master model builder for The LEGO Group, he discovers the men and women who are skewing the averages with collections of hundreds of thousands of LEGO bricks. What is it about the ubiquitous, brightly colored toys that makes them so hard for everyone to put down?

In search of answers and adventure, Jonathan Bender sets out to explore the quirky world of adult fans of LEGO (AFOLs) while becoming a builder himself. As he participates in challenges at fan conventions, searches for the largest private collection in the United States, and visits LEGO headquarters (where he was allowed into the top secret set vault), he finds his LEGO journey twinned with a second creative endeavor—to have a child. His two worlds intertwine as he awaits the outcome: Will he win a build competition or bring a new fan of LEGO into the world? Like every really good love story, this one has surprises—and a happy ending.

• Explores the world of adult fans of LEGO, from rediscovering the childhood joys of building with LEGO to evaluating LEGO's place in culture and art
• Takes an inside look at LEGO conventions, community taboos, and build challenges and goes behind-the-scenes at LEGO headquarters and LEGOLAND
• Tells a warm and personal story about the attempt to build with LEGO and build a family

Whether you're an avid LEGO freak or a onetime fan who now shares LEGO bricks with your children, this book will appeal to the inner builder in you and reignite a love for all things LEGO.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470909034
Publisher:	Trade Paper Press
Publication date:	05/28/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jonathan Bender is a freelance features writer; his work has appeared in Time Out New York, Women's Health, CNN.com, ESPN.com, and the Kansas City Star. This is his first book. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Kate, and has significantly more than the 62 LEGO bricks that exist for every man, woman, and child in the world today.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

1 Back to School.

2 I Need a Playroom.

3 My First Con.

4 Stealing from a Thief.

5 Color Changes Everything.

6 Brick Separation Anxiety.

7 Pink Skulls.

8 Everything a Princess Could Wish For.

9 I Go on a Playdate.

10 I Give My Wife a Beach House.

11 The Stranger Side of Building.

12 A Man and His Museum.

13 It’s Okay, I Work Here.

14 Becoming a Brickmaster.

15 Danish Rocky and a Real Star Wars Expert.

16 A Guest in LEGO’s House.

17 Protectors of the Brand.

18 Good Luck, Boys, That Thing Is Heavy.

19 Building Blind and the Dirty Brickster.

20 Children Not Included.

21 Kate the Builder.

22 You Can Go Home Again.

23 There Is No "I" in LEGO.

24 Miniland Dad.

Epilogue.

Index.