LEGO: A Love Story

LEGO: A Love Story

by Jonathan Bender
LEGO: A Love Story

LEGO: A Love Story

by Jonathan Bender

Hardcover(First Edition)

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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: 9780470407028
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Publication date: 05/01/2010
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 296
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

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 ix

1 Back to School 1

2 I Need a Playroom 11

3 My First Con 23

4 Stealing from a Thief 33

5 Color Changes Everything 47

6 Brick Separation Anxiety 57

7 Pink Skulls 69

8 Everything a Princess Could Wish For 79

9 I Go on a Playdate 89

10 I Give my Wife a Beach House 101

11 The Stranger Side of Building 111

12 A Man and His Museum 121

13 It's Okay, I Work Here 133

14 Becoming a Brickmaster 145

15 Danish Rocky and a Real Star Wars Expert 153

16 A Guest in LEGO's House 165

17 Protectors of the Brand 177

18 Good Luck, Boys, that thing is Heavy 189

19 Building Blind and the Dirty Brickster 199

20 Children Not Included 207

21 Kate the Builder 215

22 You Can Go Home Again 223

23 There is No "I" in LEGO 233

24 Miniland Dad 243

Epilogue 257

Index 263

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