Posted August 1, 201212 yr Of the LEGO variety? I want to bulk up on some great(or even good) reads about LEGO and/or TLG. Serious reads or, like Brickdiction, humorous. Let's hear them. I didn't know whether this should go here, or Community. Obviously, I went with Culture...
August 1, 201212 yr You mean like history about Lego's founding, etc. or books published for Lego themes?
August 1, 201212 yr Author You mean like history about Lego's founding, etc. or books published for Lego themes? Yeah, that kind of subject. Not the DK books or anything like that. Like a sit down kind of read. Sorry, I wasn't more clear...
August 1, 201212 yr I wouldn't know, I have some books but most are on building (actually most are Mindstorms that we also use for school). This might be a good one: http://www.amazon.com/The-LEGO-Book-Daniel-Lipkowitz/dp/0756656230
August 1, 201212 yr A good, but today rather out-of-date, book about The LEGO Group as a company is The World of LEGO Toys by Henry Wiencek. I first read it when I was in middle school and it gives a lot of insight into the company's history including the history of LEGOLAND parks and other side-ventures. Another book I grew up with was The Ultimate LEGO Book published by Dorling Kindersley. This is one that provided endless inspiration for me as a child, from its pictures of concept art and prototype models from the Rock Raiders theme to its thorough, detailed features on various models at LEGOLAND Parks, including the Minilands. Because of this I would say it's never too old to be worth taking a look at. More recently, The LEGO Book by Daniel Lipkowitz was released. Unlike the others which are primarily reference books, this one reads more like a retrospective of past sets and themes. It features lots of details of both older and more recent themes. A new edition with updated information is due for release later this year, so I recommend waiting to pick that one up. The older edition often comes as a co-pack with the bonus book Standing Small, which is a similar retrospective focusing more specifically on minifigures and the characters they represent. Not so sure about the newer edition, since it is yet to be released. LEGO: A Love Story focuses not on specific sets or strictly on the company, but rather on the LEGO phenomenon as a whole from the perspective of an AFOL who discovered the fandom after returning from his "Dark Age". The author, Jonathan Bender, has a background in journalism and so provides a quite detailed and mostly unbiased perspective on the fandom, including some of its less innocent (read:raunchy or otherwise politically incorrect) manifestations. There is also a lot of the book devoted to the history of the LEGO brand, but it still comes from the perspective of the AFOL community, not sugar-coating any of the more controversial decisions by the company in the past few decades. The story is told in the first person, explaining things about the fandom roughly in the order the author learns them. In the meantime it is framed by his life experiences along his path to AFOLdom, including his attempts to cope with the pressures of starting a family. I have always had a soft spot for the more story-driven offerings among LEGO's various themes, so I personally get great enjoyment from Greg Farshtey's BIONICLE and Ninjago novels and guide books. However, they are obviously aimed at kids and so might be beneath your reading level. And of course, they will have little to no redeeming value for you unless either you are a fan of these themes or you have a younger relative who is. I have never read the books for many other story-driven themes like Exo-Force and Knights' Kingdom because these, too, were aimed at a younger audience, though today I wish I had given them a chance when those themes were still current. So those are the books closest to my heart, personally. Hope some of them can offer you the same enjoyment.
August 2, 201212 yr Author *snip* I have always had a soft spot for the more story-driven offerings among LEGO's various themes, so I personally get great enjoyment from Greg Farshtey's BIONICLE and Ninjago novels and guide books. However, they are obviously aimed at kids and so might be beneath your reading level. And of course, they will have little to no redeeming value for you unless either you are a fan of these themes or you have a younger relative who is. I have never read the books for many other story-driven themes like Exo-Force and Knights' Kingdom because these, too, were aimed at a younger audience, though today I wish I had given them a chance when those themes were still current. So those are the books closest to my heart, personally. Hope some of them can offer you the same enjoyment. Awesome! Thanks Aanchir. Those sound exactly like what I was looking for. If the Ninjago books are anything like the show, I'll give them a look. Edited August 2, 201212 yr by Legocrazy81
November 18, 201212 yr "Harry Potter", good one in this regard...one of my favorite...love it!!! Not Lego-related. How about the Cult of LEGO? I haven't read it but it sounds alright... It is pretty good, gives a sort of out-of-the-box view on Lego (eg. MOC's, custom parts, real life applications, etc.).
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