The Cult of LEGO

by John Baichtal, Joe Meno

No, this isn't a book about joining some fringe cult. It's a book by LEGO® fans, for LEGO fans, and you and your kids will love it.

In The Cult of LEGO, Wired's GeekDad blogger John Baichtal and BrickJournal founder Joe Meno take you on a magnificent, illustrated tour of the LEGO community, its people, and their creations.

The Cult of LEGO introduces us to fans and builders from all walks of life. People like professional LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya; enigmatic Dutch painter Ego Leonard (who maintains that he is, in fact, a LEGO minifig); Angus MacLane, a Pixar animator who builds CubeDudes, instantly recognizable likenesses of fictional characters; Brick Testament creator Brendan Powell Smith, who uses LEGO to illustrate biblical stories; and Henry Lim, whose work includes a series of models recreating M.C. Escher lithographs and a full-scale, functioning LEGO harpsichord.

Marvel at spectacular LEGO creations like:

A life-sized Stegosaurus and an 80,000-brick T. Rex skeleton Detailed microscale versions of landmarks like the Acropolis and Yankee Stadium A 22-foot long, 350-pound re-creation of the World War II battleship Yamato A robotic, giant chess set that can replay historical matches or take on an opponent A three-level, remote-controlled Jawa Sandcrawler, complete with moving conveyor belt

Whether you're a card-carrying LEGO fanatic or just thinking fondly about that dusty box of LEGO in storage, The Cult of LEGO will inspire you to take out your bricks and build something amazing.

Praise for The Cult of LEGO

"I defy you to read and admire this book and not want to doodle with some bricks by the time you're done."

—Gareth Branwyn, online editor-in-chief, MAKE Magazine

"This fascinating look at the world of devoted LEGO fans deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone who's ever played with LEGO bricks."

—Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief, Wired

"A crazy fun read, from cover to cover, this book deserves a special spot on the bookshelf of any self-respecting nerd."

—Jake McKee, former global community manager, the LEGO Group

"An excellent book and a must have for any LEGO enthusiast out there. The pictures are awesome!"

—Ulrik Pilegaard, author of Forbidden LEGO

"We're all members of the Cult of LEGO—the only membership requirement is clicking two pieces of plastic together and wanting to click more. Now we have a book that justifies our obsession."

—James Floyd Kelly, blogger for GeekDad.com and TheNXTStep.com

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Pop Culture, History, Reference, Business, Childrens

300 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2011

About the author

John Baichtal has written or edited over a dozen books, including the award-winning Cult of Lego (2011 No Starch Press), LEGO hacker bible Make: LEGO and Arduino Projects (2012 Maker Media) with Adam Wolf and Matthew Beckler, Robot Builder (Que 2014) and Basic Robot Building with LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (Que 2012), as well as Maker Pro (Maker Media 2014), a collection of essays and interviews describing life as a professional maker. John lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I can frequently be found cursing the sharp, pointy little bricks as I extract them from the soles of my feet, I'm actually a pretty big LEGO fan. But . . . I am NOTHING like the AFOLs (Adult Fan Of LEGO) who populate this book.

These people are INSANE! And, their amazing creations are making their way into art galleries, and museums.

This book does a fairly good job of exploring all things LEGO - from MINIFIG mania to gigantic recreations of Yankee Stadium and the Acropolis.


Sean Kenney finishes his masterpiece.


Ryan McNaught's incredible Acropolis.

There is a history of brickmaking, a trip to a convention, and a look at LEGO's uses in autism therapy. Personally, I would have preferred less text, and more pictures of incredible AFOL creations.



The book does not shy away from controversy, and has an article on Zbigniew Libera, a Polish artist who creates fake LEGO kits featuring Nazi concentration camps. http://raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/...
His use of a toy to make such ghastly dioramas is a sobering reminder of all that can go wrong with the world.

I'm left with a new respect for this venerable building toy. I'll try to remember this as I'm negotiating the obstacle course of castles, forts, and pirate ships crowding my family room floor.


LEGO art by Nathan Sawaya.

[Lee Battersby · Rating 2 out of 5]

For such a large book, written by authors with such credibility within the Lego community, this ends up feeling somewhat slight, without a great deal of depth in each separate subject and with too many areas of the hobby barely touched upon or skimmed across with no real engagement. Granted, this is a coffee-style book, but even so, it feels like a lot more work has been done on the graphic design than really creating content that you can get your teeth into. It's beautifully visual, but I also felt that many of the pictures did not capture the works from their best angle, and too many felt like stock images rather than bearing a cogent, consistent look right throughout. In the end, the book felt a little too much like a quickie put together to cash in on the popularity of its topic, rather than something designed to show off the best aspects of its subject matter.

[Bruce Gargoyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Ten Second Synopsos:
A coffee-table sized exploration of the social imapct of LEGO from its earliest inception through to new developments and applications.

When I checked this one out of the library I expected that it would be the kind of book that I would idly flick through during points of boredom, but I actually ended up reading it cover to cover. This was no mean feat given that the book is a hefty, coffee-table sized tome, but I like to think that holding it up for long periods counted as exercise. Beginning at the beginning, the book takes a look at the fascinating history of the toy company that would eventually become the home of the ubiquitous and iconic Lego brick. The company's commitment to quality, amongst other things, is clearly one of the reasons why Lego has been around for so long, and has made such an impact on popular culture.

From Lego's early incarnations, the book moves on to explore the extensive world of AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego, to the uninitiated) and the "cult" that has built up around the humble toy brick. You may not be aware of this, but adult Lego fans are everywhere, with their own webcomics, literature, conventions, language, online forums and competitions and if you ever wanted to be part of a hardcore hobbyist community based around a children's toy, Lego could certainly provide your entry ticket into such a world. As well as the world of competitive building by adult Lego fans, the book takes a look at Lego as art, Lego as architecture and the ways in which adult builders have taken Lego to whole new levels that could not have been imagined by the company's founders. No book on Lego could be complete without a close look at the Minifig phenomenon, and these little guys play a big role in the cult of Lego, influencing everything from the scale of creations to the builders' choice of avatar in the online and business worlds.

There is a section of the book devoted to Lego and robotics and this was a whole new world for me as I have never particularly dabbled in the Technic sets, let alone the Mindstorms system, which allows users to program robots for all sorts of purposes, from the aforementioned vending machines, to robots designed to solve Rubik's Cubes.

The point of difference for this book is that it takes a focused look at how a simple interconnected building toy has made such an incredible impact on wider society. At the same time, it uncovers the vast and complex subculture of adult fans of Lego and the many ways in which the brick has evolved beyond "toy" status, in the hands of grown ups with innovative ambitions. If you are a fan of Lego, and indeed of social history, I can recommend this book as one to lose yourself in.

[Tyler Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool synopsis of the world of LEGO, with a focus on the adult fan base. Content includes the history of the company, pieces of art made with or influenced by LEGO, massive and tiny creations from all ages, fan groups, gatherings, and publications, as well as how LEGO has affected the fields of architecture, design, and robotics. A fun and inspirational book for any self-labeled "brickhead"!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read Lego:A love story first, then this one. Amazing.

[Bill Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few months ago I was sent a review copy of the book "The Cult of LEGO" by John Baichtal and Joe Meno. Although the book was published last November by No Starch Press, and it's taken me a while to finish reading it... but I finally did, and here are my thoughts on it.



I've known Joe for years; he's a regular at many of the major fan conventions on the east coast, and the editor of BrickJournal. He also ran the 2006 BrickFest in Washington, D.C., and when I was starting up the Bricks by the Bay planning process for our first convention in 2010, he provided a lot of great advice. I don't know the other author, however.

This is a great coffee table book covering pretty comprehensively all aspects of the LEGO adult hobby. It's not a single narrative though, from cover to cover, but rather each page pretty well stands on its own (in some cases the story might span 2-3 pages). This is perfect for picking it up, opening it to a random page, reading a page or two, then putting it back down again, but if you do try to read it continuously it comes off a bit jarring. I suppose as a coffee table book this is ideal, but it's not how I like to read. The chapters or stories in the book seem like blog posts more than anything else, which is understandable as John Baichtal is a prominent blogger.

Most of No Starch Press's LEGO books are squarely aimed at the LEGO hobbyist, but this one is not. It's for the person who finds LEGO interesting, but isn't a builder themselves, or maybe someone new to LEGO as a hobby. It's perfect for someone who loves to come to the public day of a LEGO convention but would never attend the whole weekend.

The book is full of great pictures featuring a wide variety of creations and events from all over the world, spanning the last ten years and more. I like the fact that they don't just highlight the latest and greatest, but creations that were featured on LUGNET 10 years ago are given equal billing with something from last year, showing the timelessness of LEGO as a medium. If you have a friend or family member who doesn't understand your fascination with LEGO, sharing this book with them would go a long way toward redressing that disconnect. Combining Meno's encyclopedic knowledge of the LEGO hobby and AFOL scene with Baichtal's outsider point of view was a master stroke by the publishers, as it ensures accuracy and comprehensiveness while keeping it accessible and understandable by a non-AFOL.

It was out of date almost immediately after publication though, with the closure of DesignByMe and LEGO Universe and consequent changes to LDD, and the introduction of the new LEGO Friends line (and its attendant controversies in the media) being topics that were completely missed by the authors. In a rapidly evolving scene such as ours, that's pretty much inevitable, however.

On a personal note, two of my photos were used (thanks to the Creative Commons license I use in all my Flickr photos) and both BayLUG and Bricks by the Bay got a mention. None of my models were featured though.

(Taken from my blog entry for this review)

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an absolutely fascinating book. There are so many things I did not know about LEGO. I will be honest though, I mainly skimmed from chapter 9 onwards... Digital bricks and robotics hold no interest for me but I am sure those sections are just as interesting as the rest of the book.

I am a total amateur (maybe novice is a better word) when it comes to Lego but I love it all the same; mainly collecting minifigures and Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean sets (or will be, once I start working again).

The book is inspiring as well - I was quite taken with the Vignettes, which are small pieces that depict a specific moment e.g.
or even this two storey version [image error]
While you are working within a small space, there is no limit to the height that you can use. I think this is something I would work on in the future.

The LEGO comics used in the book are hilarious! The ApocaLEGO is just brilliant and the Zombie Apocafest (pages 176 and 177) is so detailed. These people have real talent.

The only thing I didn't like was the constant reference that LEGO is a toy. While technically that is true, I think most people (well, me really) think LEGO is LEGO. So I don't understand that great debate of childs toy vs. adult plaything. It's LEGO - everybody plays with it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book caught my eye as the cover screamed out to me from the shelves as I was spending the day working from the local public library, and I just had to check it out. There was a lot of interesting information on the history of the LEGO company, its place in Danish culture, and about the different kinds of builds done by various types of Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL).

Perhaps it is just the nature of the beast for a company that continuously updates multiple product lines but, unfortunately, having read it 12 years after its publishing date, much of the information felt dated. It got frustrating finding that the overwhelming majority of the URLs printed in the book led either to 404 errors or "this domain up for sale" squatter pages.

The section on LEGO software was the most dated, with virtually all of the listed software being discontinued. [One nice exception was, as I write this, for a LEGO photo mosaic making software that, while nowhere close to being actively maintained, at least still had a live site, including downloadable, open source Java code, which I intend to work with to update and, I hope, eventually extend to work as a web application, and not software that needs to be downloaded and run only on one's own computer.] It was frustrating that it seemed like too much of the book was devoted to this and similarly short-lived, discontinued product lines, while failing to even mention something like the modular building sets. These were what first brought me into LEGO as an adult, and could easily be mentioned as being part of elaborate city builds. Plus, as of the book's 2011 publishing date, either 5 or 6 (depending on when in the year the final copy went to print) had already been released since starting in 2007 - already a longer-lasting product line than many of those constituting a good percentage of the book's coverage.

I do want to give the authors credit for covering some social concerns with LEGO, such as the section on "Minifig Controversy", about whether the "ostensibly 'race-neutral' yellow coloration" is really so, or whether "'yellow equals light-skinned'", and the rarity of darker-skinned minifigures in more recent years. They also point out that the overwhelming majority of minifigs can be interpreted as either male or gender-neutral, with distinctly female minifigs - distinguished by "hair, facial details [such as eyelashes and lipstick], and printed body contours." The section on "pink LEGO", different themes such as the discontinued "Homemaker" and "Belville" figure lines addresses an issue that still arises. Unfortunately, the book was released only one year before the introduction of the "LEGO Friends" line. While the line has had similar "pink LEGO" criticism, it is one of LEGO's most successful lines and, a decade later, has already lasted considerably longer than the earlier "half-hearted attempts at girly themes". AFOLs can note that this line actually has some of the strongest offerings for various types of buildings, with much better representation of housing than in the police- and fire-heavy "City" line. These houses are often more complete than the small apartments (and single house included in the "Bookshop" model) in the more complicated Modular Buildings sets targeted at adults. It makes me think in the scene in the movie "Oppenheimer" when, upon first entering the house just built in Los Alamos, his wife points out that they forgot to include a kitchen.

One disappointment with a book that is clearly a "coffee table" book is some of the poor decisions from a design perspective. The chapter title pages all have their titles in nearly impossible to read white text on a bright yellow background. On the handful of pages where there is enough text that it is put in two-column format, there is only a single space between the two columns, making it very hard to distinguish where the left column ends and the right begins without looking closely. Finally, as other critics have noted, many of the photos could have been better edited to have them highlight their subjects better. Such design missteps seem out of place in a book about a product having a strong design esthetic as one of its primary features.

One final criticism I have is about the section on "Autism Therapy" - the one section that, as the father of a son on the autism spectrum, I found truly offensive in its over-generalizations. This is the paragraph that really sets me off [emphases added]:

Autistic children suffer from a limited ability to interact with other children; it's a handicap that can't be overcome by forcing the child into social situations. Autistic kids must be coaxed into these critical interactions, lured into building the social skills most kids learn automatically. And what better way to challenge a kid's critical weakness than to involve them in an activity that appeals to their strongest suit?

I found myself getting angrier the more I went over the paragraph for this review. One phrase that is very well known in the autism community is that, "if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism". How about, "Certain autistic children have...." My son may interact a bit differently that neurotypical children, but he most definitely does not have a "limited ability to interact with other children". His superpower is making friends with people he meets by default. He and his twin brother love to get together with good friends from the neighborhood, school, church, Cub Scouts, and their baseball team. No "coaxing" is required. And even if his autism did present itself in greater difficulty interacting with the neurotypical world, to refer to that as a "critical weakness" is extremely ableist language.

On a more positive note, it was good to see my local Twin Cities Lego Users' Group (TwinLUG) make a couple appearances in the book. It was very fun to see a discussion of their "microcity standard", which has made the rounds nationally, and I have been lucky enough to see locally.

Overall, this was an entertaining book, with just the one cringe-worthy section, and a lot of material that has not aged well over 12 years. However, there is enough about the core products and how they are used by various groups to provide for some interesting reading and pictures.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a combination history of LEGO, history of adult fans of LEGO (AFOL), and photo-book of amazing LEGO creations. It presents itself as something of an introduction to LEGO to people who either never played with the bricks, or else gave them up as kids and never returned to them before now. I think it's more likely to appeal to AFOL like me who already collect and use the bricks as adults, but I suppose it might be something others would find at least worth flipping through.

I do have to note that despite being published in 2011 there are already some minor bits that are out of date. There is some discussion of the LEGO massively multiplayer online computer game. Unfortunately, that game was not as successful as LEGO hoped it would be, and has already been shut down. This just emphasizes one of the points the book brings up, which is that while the company adheres to certain core principles of quality, it is also constantly embracing change. Two things that have helped keep it successful despite the patents on its core elements being long expired.

[Cheryl Gatling]

I bought this book because my nine-year-old daughter has gotten into Lego. I thought she would like it, and she did, especially the chapter on the minifig (whose appeal is so universally powerful that it graces the cover).

But this is not really a book for or about kids. This book could be subtitled, "Everything that Adults Do with Lego." Reproducing works of art, making movies, building vignettes and dioramas, online resources, conventions-- if adult fans of Lego (AFOLs) are doing it, it gets a mention here.

The survey is thorough in its breadth, not so much in its depth, with about two pages per topic, and most pages loaded with far more photo than text. But if any of these topics sparks your interest, there are usually websites listed where you can look up more information. If you like Lego, this will be a fun book.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit to skimming this book a little, especially as some of the photos had limited impact as a PDF ebook. An interesting, though nothing startlingly new, recap on LEGO. A lot of concentration on AFOLs and the constructions that can be made when you apply adult money to a toy. Somewhat inspiring. This book came out without the Friends controversy, so you won't see it mentioned although there is much genre and purity discussions that basically boil down to the company having three highly successful product lines - LEGO system (blocks, sometimes heavily commercialized), Bionic and Mindstorm. I'm tempted to go buy some Mindstorm, have LEGO aplenty with my kids and NO interest in Bionic.

[Jami Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the discussion of the history and the impact on Dutch culture. Realizing that there are some in the world who take Lego very seriously and have come up with some creative adaptations to the typical building. Getting to realize the power of a new Lego set through six year old eyes for the third time is a real treat!

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly organized (Acronym Glossary on page 49???). Nothing of substance for someone trying to learn more about the rise of Lego as a company. No user tips on how to improve your building skills. Very U.S. centric approach given Lego is a Danish company. Nothing more than a coffee table book.

[William Norrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure who this book is for. The title made me think it was for committed fans, AFOLs. Unfortunately, if you are a fan then you already know everything covered in this book. It also doesn't provide much for causal fans or folks that may be curious about the culture built around Lego. A casual fan would be better satisfied with a visual encyclopedia or one of the many Youtube videos that exist. There is an excessive number of chapters in this book that cover topics in very broad strokes. Despite its 300 plus pages, it is a quick read due to the pictures and minimal text. It may make an ok gift; it may also be worth picking up for a heavily discounted price (I got my copy through a Humble Bundle that included a bunch of books).

[MK · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, you can learn about the history of LEGO, the famous Danish toy.

There are pros and cons to giving Lego to children.
I think it's a smarter choice to play with Legos that move your hands than to play video games.

The process of assembling Lego feels like a three-dimensional puzzle.
Adults can also assemble buildings and enjoy them as replicas.

I was surprised that there were so many different types that I couldn't collect them all.
This time I thought I'd watch the Lego movie.

[Dmitri S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cult of LEGO is a delightful coffee table book, perfect for dipping into a few pages at a time. The book attempts to touch on every aspect of life that the little yellow hands of LEGO have influenced — and there are MANY such areas — so don’t expect an in-depth exploration of each one.

As someone who hasn’t touched LEGO bricks in about twenty years, I found this dynamic overview of a largely unfamiliar world to be thoroughly enjoyable.

[Jordan Stowell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very immodest. Offensive.

[Maurya · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not the definitive book on LEGO it does dive deep into the world of AFOLs and presents a visual overview of the cult, the magazines, the conventions and their staggeringly creative builds.

[Sally Hegedus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dropped by the library tonight. Saw this waiting to be reshelved. Picked it up on a whim. Cuz who doesn't love Lego? Spent the next three hours totally engrossed in it, devouring it page by page, as it became dark outside and I lost all track of time and wondered why I was getting so hungry (no dinner had been eaten yet). Obviously I absolutely loved this book! It's amazing what folks have the creativity and skill to make from these "bricks" and other "elements" as the Lego lingo calls the building pieces. Great photos, very good explanations of the various building trends and clubs. This is a great fun read for anyone who has any of his or her inner kid left!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having built LEGO as a kid, then again as an adult, then again with my own kids, AND having access to the internet, there wasn't really a lot of new content here. Sure, there were some different pictures, and certainly a bit of information topics that had not been on my radar, but none of the content was deep.

Open the book to almost any page and you can read right there without having to worry about the page before or the one after.

Call it a "coffee table book" and you'll be happy with what is inside.

[Noah Kellstedt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!
I loved it because it taught me more than just how to build legos it was the story of lego. Lego started in Denmark created by a man called Ole Kirk Christiansen. He started the company around 1950. I learn how it grew over the year from a family company to what is is now.
I liked this book because I like legos but I like reading about its history.
I would recommend this book to anyone even my sister. I think it is interesting to learn about the history behind my favorite thing to do.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having also read Lego: A Love Story, I can't help but compare the two books. This has many more pictures, and is more visually appealing. However the text is very sparse, and does not provide much detail. I preferred Lego: A Love Story for the information provided, but it is a more time consuming read. If you are interested in photography or looking for a faster read, this book would be a better choice for you.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a non-fanatical Adult Fan of Lego (AFOL - who knew we had a name?) and mother of a true Lego fanatic, I was interested to learn more about people who are truly culty about the bricks. This book takes a wide-ranging view and has a certain Ripley's Believe It or Not / interesting morsels of information kind of fascination to it. I'd have liked it to be a bit meatier, though - it's really a light gloss on fan culture by an unapologetic fan.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depressingly insubstantial and slap-dash. Most of the picture captions are followed by short blocks of text that do little more than reiterate the caption content. Strange. And many pictures seem to be chosen to convey the least amount of information about the models/creations in question.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of neat pictures and stories about crazy Lego fans, but books like this always leave me wanting more detail. I'd still consider Lego: A Love Story a more-satisfying depiction of Lego fandom, despite its lack of pictures.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, you'll find a lot of pictures of LEGO projects inside. The whole book felt unpolished though - many of the photographs gave the impression of being amateur snapshots done under bad lighting culled from LEGO fan sites, and the writing was...well, it is a coffee-table book.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

wish there had been even more pictures of the insanely fabulous Lego creations, but ingesting look at the origins of Lego and how it's influenced our culture and how our culture has influenced the company's offerings.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After taking the family to The Lego Movie, I was inspired to learn more about the product,the company, the customers, the fans. This was an interesting view of the "super-fans", with loads of great pictures of things you've never dreamed Lego could do. A fun read.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you have kids?

You need this book.

Empty coffee table?

You need this book.

Person?

See above.

--WARNING: It's got a lot of pics, but maybe too many technical words for little ones.

[Mehdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must for LEGO fans and old-timers...Fun and informational at once. Did you know that Lego could be used to help autistic children? Or build a Sudoku solver machine?