The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

OK… pop quiz:

Where have we seen this image before?

If you guessed in BrickJournal Issue #4 then you’re right!

But for something really amazing, take a look at my article (from that issue) in Russian. You can see/read it by clicking here.

If you ask me, one of the coolest things is how my name appears in Russian –> . Ok, Ok, I’m a little biased about that last curiousity. But it’s still pretty cool.

Allan B.
a.k.a.

I’m pleasantly surprised (though not complaining in any way) that more than a year and a half after the release of The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide there are still reviews of the book being posted online.

Yesterday the site ArsGeek posted a really nice review. A couple of the comments that caught my eye were:

“The Brickopedia is, quite frankly, the centerpiece of this book for me (even though it’s at the end, allow me my creative license). It was here that I truly reveled in my Lego thrall. Pouring through a brick by brick description of the various types of Legos, from the simple 1×1 to the Pine Tree (Large) this is what kept me up late.”

and also:

“This book also has something of an ‘oh wow!’ factor. I know that if I leave out on my table I can judge who my real (Lego) friend sare by how quickly they run for and grab this book. In fact, it’s already on my list to get for several friends who’ll get lots of use out of it.”

You can read the entire review by clicking here.

So thanks to Ben at ArsGeek and here’s hoping his friends will enjoy the book as much as he did.

Allan B.

I thought it was time to add something new to the Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide blog, so I’ve decided to add a category called “Photography". In this category I will be posting some of my photographs and/or thoughts about photography. It’s another of my many hobbies, though one that I enjoy more than most of the others. To get you started, here are a couple of random pics I pulled out of my digital portfolio:

I decided to present these two images to present together because they both have a softeness to them, though for different reasons.

The first is our cat Izzy (featured in the Mosaics chapter of ULBG) taken early one morning in natural light.

The second was taken last spring in a public garden not far from where I work.

Both pics were taken with my Nikon D50. I’ll post more about it later. It’s one of my favorite gadgets…. ever.

Allan

It was with great sadness this morning that I heard about the passing of writer Kurt Vonnegut. Half of one whole shelf of my book collection is dedicated to his work. If you haven’t read a Vonnegut book I highly recommend you head to your local library, used book store or to Amazon.com and get started. While Breakfast of Champions is one of my personal favorites, it can be a difficult read if you’re not familiar with Vonnegut’s style. You may do better starting with Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle or Timequake as your first exposure to this uniquely talented wordsmith.

He will be missed.

Allan

So here’s something I find odd….

On Amazon.com I keep another blog running. The entries there are almost entirely related to ULBG or at least to something related to LEGO in general. (As opposed to this blog where I will sometimes post about non-book or non-LEGO related topics.) And so I find it odd that my last blog posting on Amazon ended up getting two negative votes. Well, that is to say that “0 of 2 voters liked this post". Read another way, “2 voters didn’t like this post.”

Now, let’s suppose for a moment that the posting had been completely self-serving. Suppose it had been for no other purpose except to promote my book. And to be honest… some of the postings are just that. They are nothing but self-promotion.

But the posting in question isn’t one of those. It’s a very simple posting about the most recent issue of BrickJournal that got released. “But wait, don’t you write for BrickJournal?” Yes, I can hear you asking that right now. True, in the past I have written articles and created instructions for the magazine but for the last two issues I’ve done nothing but copy editing. (Actually, that’s been more work than writing articles, but that’s another story.)

So by posting a note about the most recent issue of BrickJournal all I was doing was trying to promote the magazine and the contents that it offers, for FREE, to anyone who might be interested. Doing so doesn’t help me in any way to sell any books. So it strikes me as odd that anyone could justify labelling that posting as not useful.

But, of course, this is the net and what one person can do one one site can be equalled out on another. So now you’ve read my counter statement to those people who didn’t like the posting. As much as I believe people should express themselves, I’m left to ponder… how exactly do you not like something free AND related to LEGO? Ya gotta wonder.

And now you know my side of the story.

Allan B.