The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

I was going to post a long ‘year in review’ message but to be honest… I don’t like those. I’m already tired of CNN and the other channels recapping 2005 with ‘best of’ lists and so on and so forth. So rather than go into that sort of thing I just want to note what a great year it’s been for The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide. When 2005 started I wasn’t really sure I was ever going to finish the book. It was so close at that point, but little did I know the end was still a long way off.

The actual writing of the book was finished by the end of February ‘05 but the final edits, rerendering of many images, proof reading and indexing didn’t finish until August. Yep… that’s almost 6 months later! The reward for all of those headaches and long nights has been a book that appears to have been well-received by many people. Sales have been better than expected and the book has already had a second printing. As I write this (about 6 p.m. Dec 31/05) the book sits at Sales Ranking #1891 on Amazon.com. Not bad for a book that only hit the shelves 4 months ago. In fact, the book has ranked as high #484 on Amazon, which is rather amazing considering that I have a screenshot from much earlier in the year showing it at #1,600,000.

So there you go…. no ‘best of’ lists and only a brief recap of the year past. My thoughts are now with the year ahead. Hopefully ULBG continues to do well and who knows… there might even be another new book in the works.

Happy New Year! Especially to my parents, without whom this little project would never have gotten past the first draft. Also, to the folks at No Starch Press who not only believed in this book but have put forth an amazing effort to make sure its release was a success.

All the best,
Allan B.

This was a short but nice review that appeared on a site called 800CEORead.com a couple of weeks ago. You can read the entire blog entry here or, just read it below:

In the spirit of Make Magazine, which by the way, has spawned Makers, I call your attention to the recently published The Unofficial Lego Builder’s Guide by Allan Bedford (No Starch Press). This book will help you, um, build things with Legos. Actually, make that…it will help you build better things with Legos, not to mention build things better with Legos. Produced with the same care and no-nonsense ease-of-use that so many O’Reilly technical guides to computers and software display, this sweet and extremely practical guide will delight any person of any age who, upon spying a few errant Lego pieces, finds themselves clicking them together almost without thinking. This book offers sage advice on everything from understanding the strongest way to connect blocks to building a complex structure from a design to storing the pieces. If you are a fan of the Sims, Christopher Alexander, Make Magazine, or, of course, Legos, you will savor this gem.

So whether it’s a belated holiday gift or just a way to suck up to the boss… now you know what to buy for the CEO in your life.

AB

Along with a couple of great LEGO sets (that I’ll write about later) I got a fantastic book for Christmas this year from my parents. I want to mention it here because if you’re like me and enjoy building with LEGO then chances are you probably also have some other childhood toys and games that you remember fondly.

Author Tim Walsh has written a really amazing book that chronicles all of those playthings not just from your childhood and mine but right back to the turn of the 20th century.

The book is called Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them. Here’s the very classy looking cover art:

And rather than go on and on about the book here (and I could do that) why not stop by Amazon.com and check out my complete review. I gave it 5 stars and when you read the review I think you’ll see why.

More on ‘LEGO for Christmas’ coming soon!

Allan

I received a very nice email today from LEGO builder Jason Burik. As noted on his website Jason builds replica models of sports stadiums, residential homes, public buildings and more. He does commision work and produces some amazingly realistic looking structures. His model of Camden Yards is one of my favorites.

So it was understandably flattering to read this message from Jason:

I just got done reading your book.
Outstanding work.

Even though I’ve been building with LEGO blocks
for over 20 years (and now have my own business
making LEGO models) I still learned some new
things by reading your book.

If you haven’t already clicked on one of the links above, I highly recommend you check out Jason’s website and take a look at his extensive portfolio:

Thanks again for the kind email Jason!

AB

I spotted this short but positive review of the book:

ULBG review on OperationGadget.com

I find it so odd when people quote directly from the book. Not bad, just weird. I read it and think, “that’s weird, that sounds like something I would write….. oh wait, it is.”

AB

There’s a long story behind this review, but here’s the short version.

The review done by ;login: magazine was unfortunately not included in their December printed edition. However, the good news is that the review has been posted to their website. You can read all of the book reviews from that edition by downloading a small .pdf file here.

But if you’re impatient like me and want to read the ULBG review right away, here’s what they had to say:

THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO BUILDER’S
GUIDE
Allan Bedford
No Starch Press, 2005, 1-59327-054-2,
319 pp.
The process of selecting books to review is, to put it politely, organic;
it involves complex variables such as my level of interest in the
topic, my level of knowledge about the topic, my estimation of readers’
levels of interest, the other books in the stack, and whether or
not I think a book is cool. Which is all by way of saying, no, Lego
does not have much to do with advanced computing systems, but I
think it’s cool, and I’m betting a fair number of you do, too.

This book is cool. It’s not rocket science, although there is a nice
walk-through of how to design a space shuttle model. It would be a
great Christmas gift for the person on your list with the big Lego collection
and no very focused idea of what to do with it. You might be
more reluctant to give it to anybody in your own household, as
the storage suggestions may result in the reader developing entirely
new ideas of the scale of a “big” Lego collection, and wanting closets-
full. If you already have closets full of Lego, this book will give
you the graph paper and the ideas to turn it into Lego cities, or whatever.
It’s suitable for older kids and young-at-heart adults. And you
can feel good about giving it to kids, because it teaches some nice
mathematics about ratios, making it genuinely educational.

I learned some neat stuff (the thin Legos are exactly 1/3 the size of
normal-height ones), and it’s my 18-month-old’s second-favorite of
the books I’ve reviewed, because it led me to build things she likes
out of her Duplo. (Her favorite is a hardback with a penguin on it. She
likes the penguin and finds it an especially intriguing size, for some
unknown baby reason.)

A pretty nice review if you ask me.

Allan

How cool is this:

FutureMe.org

It’s a site that lets you send an email to yourself X number of years from now.

Yikes… I just realized I hardly know what to write to my old high school buddies anymore, how am I going to decide what to write to myself in the year 2025?

But I’m going to send something… it’s too neat of an idea to pass up.

And these guys obviously are not trying to get rich. In fact you have to look pretty close to even find the mention of donations. So if you decide to use the site, why not send them a buck through the Amazon.com Honor System.

Now, let me see.

I’ll figure something out.

AB

O.K. it’s not really snowing that hard.

And I’m not home because of the snow, but rather I’m on holidays.

But….

I did still have some digital photo fun this afternoon.

I downloaded a freeware program known as The GIMP or “GNU Image Manipulation Program". Kind of like Photoshop, only free.

And I wanted to try one of the tutorials I found called selective colorization, by Eric R. Jeschke. So I loaded up a digital photo that I’d taken this past fall and followed along through the tutorial. I think it came out pretty good:

And there you go. LOL

AB

Today’s London Free Press newspaper featured an interesting list of suggested Christmas gifts. The list was assembled by James Reaney and included one entry for each letter of the alphabet. I’ll give you one guess under which letter The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide appears….. Got your guess ready?

If you want to check your answer, have a read through the entire list by clicking here.

I’ll give you a hint… it’s near the bottom.

Allan

I will try to post more information on this in the next couple of days, but for now I just wanted to let Canadians know that the book has begun appearing on the shelves of Chapters stores. So if you want to check out an actual copy before you buy you might want to stop by the nearest location. You can search the inventories of stores online and find out if the store near you has their stock yet or not. My crack marketing team (hi, mom and dad!) confirmed for me yesterday that both of the Chapters stores in London, Ontario had received copies and they were already out on the shelf.

Allan B.

In case you’re looking to grab a copy before Christmas, be sure to order as soon as possible! I checked today and most of the major online retailers have now restocked The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide.

The link above gets you to Amazon.com but for a list of other online retailers please check out:

Apotome.com Order Page

And a special thanks to those of you who wrote to me directly or even called the offices of No Starch Press looking for copies when Amazon and others were temporarily sold out. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your interest and your persistence.

Allan B.

Another mention of The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide, this time in a publication called Book News that focuses on ‘Reference and Research book news’. You can download the entire issue if you like, but to save you a bit of time, here’s what was included for my book:

Going beyond simply supplying instructions for building particular
models, this useful guide provides information, tips, and techniques
that empower readers to make their own fantastic creations. Lego
enthusiast Bedford introduces a comprehensive array of Lego parts, and
discusses fundamental elements of building, design, scale, mosaics, and
color. Other topics include sorting and storing, using tools, creating
instructions for Lego models, and designing and playing games with Lego
pieces. The appendix contains a section on design grids, as well as a
comprehensive “Brickopedia,” a visual guide to hundreds of Lego pieces,
which lists dimensions, a description, Lego part number & year of
release, and historical and usage information.

And for those wondering about availability on Amazon.com and the other retailers, all I can say is please be patient a little longer. More copies are on the way and they should all be restocked shortly.

AB

In a previous posting I discussed the Brickopedia found in Appendix A of my book. I was pleasantly surprised (and flattered) that Ben Fleskes used the Brickopedia as a starting point for a discussion on LUGNET about a more comprehensive parts reference tool. Rather than reposting my thoughts here, I’ll direct you to the thread on LUGNET so that you can get the full picture.

Click here to head over to LUGNET —–> Brickopedia discussions

Allan B.

I’ve confirmed with my publisher today that even though the book appears to be currently unavailable from Amazon.com this is just a temporary situation. More copies were printed within the last two weeks and are currently on their way to the warehouse that feeds Amazon and other retailers. So if you’ve stumbled on this posting while looking for more information about the book please be assured that it should shortly be showing as available to ship quickly from all of the online book sites.

Of course, if you are finding any difficulties ordering the book please don’t hesitate to email me with your questions/concerns and I’ll do whatever I can to help sort things out for you. I was recently in touch with a builder in Australia who found he wasn’t able to order the book through the Australian LEGO Shop at Home service. It is available from LEGO Shop at Home but I guess not to all of the different countries they service. None-the-less we were able to find a way for him to order that worked well and hopefully he’ll be enjoying his copy in the near future.

Allan B.

I was contacted recently by a writer for an east coast American newspaper. Among his questions was one that really got me thinking. He asked, “What is your favorite Lego memory (specific
creation as a kid)?” So I let my mind drift back nearly 30 years and came up with this fond memory:

This was my first robot. My only robot really, as I can’t recall ever making another one. As you can see by his chest plate his name is “A". Pretty clever, huh? And he moved perfectly well, so long as you pushed him. I think there were about a dozen 2x2 wheelsets beneath that square base.

My mom is probably better able to date the picture (hi mom! ) based on the wallpaper in the background, but my guess is this was around 1978 or 1979.

Now…. roll the clock ahead about a quarter of a century. Same builder… same hobby… bigger models. Here’s what I mean:

What I find perhaps most interesting about this little memory exercise is that the 9-foot tall CN Tower that I built in 2003 likely contains at least one or more 1x6 white bricks that would have at one time been used to create “A". I ran short just near the end of the tower build and had to raid my childhood collection (normally stored separately) for a few of those pieces. Come to think of it…. I’m not sure I ever put them back. LOL

Allan B.

I haven’t seen the actual printed magazine, but this link was brought to my attention yesterday:

MacTech Magazine

If you scroll down a bit and look under the heading “MacTech 2005 High-Tech Gift Guide” you’ll find The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide listed as one of the gift suggestions.

I think this is now the second or third time the book’s been mentioned on a Mac related site of some kind. Maybe there’s a deeper connection between Mac users and LEGO than we realize….. [cue the Twilight Zone music].

AB