1960 年代初，我的父母给我最小的弟弟买了一盒乐高(LEGO)积木。那是我们家对乐高(LEGO)欣赏的开始，一直延续到今天（我最近把我的乐高(LEGO)机器人迷你玩具送给了我最喜欢的 9 岁孩子，但我仍然使用我的乐高健身(LEGO gym)包，还有一个乐高足球(LEGO soccer) 运动员 minifig(player minifig)在我的桌子上）。在我们当地的购物中心(shopping mall)，苹果商店曾经就在(Apple store)乐高商店(LEGO store)旁边，我花在乐高(LEGO)玩具上的时间比“苹果(Apples)”要多得多。我的儿子和女儿(son and daughter)仍然有成千上万的砖块、小人仔和配件存放在这里和那里。因此，当我有机会回顾一本名为《乐高崇拜》(The Cult of LEGO)的书时，我迫不及待地想要开始阅读。我对这个项目的热情得到了回报吗？(Was)阅读并找出。
一砖一瓦
这本书的开始有点慢，起初我不确定我是否喜欢它。前几章是对乐高(LEGO)历史的介绍，读起来很像从丹麦语(Danish)翻译成英语(English)的员工手册。然后是关于AFOL(AFOLs)（乐高(LEGO)的成人朋友(Adult Friends)）和女性拼搭者（成年女性(adult female)乐高(LEGO)拼搭者显然是稀有品种）和爱好者的积木存储(brick storage)系统的章节。
直到名为Ingenious LEGO的部分，这本书才真正开始加快速度。在这里，我们可以找到诸如Google创始人Sergei Brin 和 Larry Page(Sergei Brin and Larry Page)的乐高积木(LEGO brick) 服务器外壳(server enclosure)、吉他英雄的(Guitar Hero)乐高吉他(LEGO guitar)以及卡入每个孩子(Laptop Per Child)的USB 端口(USB port)以帮助构图的乐高取景器(LEGO viewfinder)等插图带有前置摄像头。从这里开始，有乐高的照片(LEGO)结构塞进书里。很抱歉我以电子书格式阅读它，因为这样更容易将标题与印刷书中的照片相匹配。它的描述将其称为“咖啡桌书”，意思是格式较大的书，因此可以适当地欣赏插图。
不是说明书
乐高崇拜(The Cult of LEGO)不是一本关于如何构建自己的“巧妙的乐高(LEGO)”的说明书。这是对世界各地乐高拼搭(LEGO)者想象力的庆祝，以及他们使用标准和改装乐高积木拼砌标准(LEGO)乐高(LEGO)盒装套装中没有的各种东西的方式。很明显，作者了解并喜爱乐高(LEGO)，并写这本书是因为他们自己对这个主题的热情。他们找到了一些令人惊叹的LEGO项目的插图，并讨论了修改我们许多人都不会想到的LEGO积木的方法。(LEGO)有趣的是，原来的乐高(LEGO)专利已过期，因此制作自己的乐高(LEGO)积木并不违法，许多艺术家都这样做了。虽然作者花了一些时间评论仿冒乐高积木的劣质质量，但他们对这些艺术(LEGO)乐高(LEGO)创造者充满热情，他们在自己的乐高(LEGO)变体中使用塑料成型、贴花、油漆和LED灯。(LED)这些产品有些是出售的，有些只是供建造者自己创作的。
小人和更多
在我读到《乐高崇拜》中(The Cult of LEGO)关于它们的部分之前，我从未想过太多关于迷你人偶（乐高(Lego)小人）的事情。虽然我知道有各种各样的人偶可供选择，但我从来没有想过它们的颜色不一样，或者公司为一些小人仔选择的颜色是有争议的。这本书有一张小人仔不同变体的照片，这真的很吸引人(attention grabber)。有不少艺术家专门从事定制小人仔，乐高爱好者有很多方法(LEGO enthusiast)可以自己定制。有代表各种名人的小人仔的令人愉快的照片，无论是真实的还是虚构的。很明显，很多艺术家真的把他们的创造性思维放在了这些小人物身上。
艺术、工艺和艺术
这本书的很多内容都是献给那些用乐高(LEGO)创造出令人惊奇的东西的人（附有他们作品的精彩照片）以及乐高(LEGO)积木可以用来制作任何东西的方式，包括很多我肯定不会拥有的物品想到（如马赛克和模型火车）。在我的一些书评(book reviews)中，我详细介绍了本书的内容，但在这种情况下，我认为提前提供太多信息会破坏很多惊喜。我几乎可以保证，如果你曾经使用过LEGO你会在这本书中找到一些会让你大吃一惊的东西。除了建造城堡和塔楼之外，这些小砖块的用途还有很多，而且这些小人仔看起来就像您想象中的任何人一样。这些照片令人惊叹，这本书的设计（具有乐高积木(LEGO-brick)图形和与积木相同的明亮原色）非常吸引眼球。凭借乐高(LEGO)的历史、人们超越原包装盒的方式的描述，以及所有这些令人惊叹的作品的照片，乐高崇拜(The Cult of LEGO)无疑是赢家。
判决
The Cult of LEGO
Book Review - The Cult of LEGO - for All the LEGO Fans Out There
In the early 1960s, my parents bought my youngest brother a box of LEGO bricks. That was the beginning оf оur family's apprecіatiоn for LEGO, which continues to this day (I recently gave my LEGO robot mini-toy to my favorite 9-year-old, but I still use my LEGO gym bag and have a LEGO soccer player minifig on my desk). In оur local shopping mall, the Apple store used to be right next to the LEGO store, and I have sрent a lot more time with LEGO toys than "Appleѕ". My son and dаughter still have thousands of briсks and minifigs and accessories in storage here and there. So when I gоt the chance to review a book cаlled The Cult of LEGO, I was eager to get started. Was my enthusiasm for the project rewarded? Read on and find out.
Brick by brick
The book gets off to a somewhat slow start, and at first I wasn't sure I liked it. The first chapters are an introduction to the history of LEGO, and they read rather like an employee manual translated from Danish into English. Then there are chapters on AFOLs (Adult Friends of LEGO) and on women builders (adult female LEGO builders are apparently a rare breed) and on enthusiasts' brick storage systems.
It isn't till the section called Ingenious LEGO that the book really starts to pick up speed. Here's where we find illustrations of such things as Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page's LEGO brick server enclosure, a LEGO guitar for Guitar Hero, and a LEGO viewfinder that snaps into the One Laptop Per Child's USB port to help frame photos with the forward-facing camera. From here on out, there are photos of LEGO constructions jam-packed into the book. I was sorry I was reading it in e-book format because it would be easier to match up the captions with the photos in a printed book. Its description refers to it as a "coffee table book," meaning one with a larger format so the illustrations can be properly appreciated.
Not an instruction manual
The Cult of LEGO isn't a book of instructions on how to build your own "ingenious LEGO." It's a celebration of the imagination of LEGO builders around the world, and the ways in which they've used standard and modified LEGO bricks to build all kinds of things that don't come in the standard LEGO boxed sets. It's clear that the authors know and love LEGO and wrote the book because of their own enthusiasm for the subject. They've found illustrations of some amazing LEGO projects and they talk about ways to modify LEGO bricks that many of us wouldn't have thought of. It was interesting to learn that the original LEGO patents have expired, so it's not against the law to make your own LEGO bricks, and many artists have done just that. While the authors spend some time commenting on the inferior quality of knockoff LEGO bricks, they have a great deal of enthusiasm for these artistic LEGO creators, who use plastic molding, decals, paint, and LED lights in their own LEGO variations. Some of those products are for sale, some are just for the builders' own creations.
Little people and more
I had never thought much about the minifigs (the little Lego people) till I read the section about them in The Cult of LEGO. While I was aware that there is a variety of figures available, it never occurred to me that they were not all the same color, or that the company's choice of colors for some minifigs was controversial. The book has a photo of just some of the different variations in the minifigs and that was really an attention grabber. There are quite a few artists who specialize in custom minifigs, and there are many ways that the LEGO enthusiast can customize their own. There are delightful photos of minifigs representing all kinds of famous people, both real and fictional. It's clear that a lot of artists have really put their creative minds to work on these little people.
Art, craft, and artistry
A lot of the book is devoted to the people who create amazing things out of LEGO (with great photos of their creations) and the ways that LEGO pieces can be used to make just about anything, including a lot of items I certainly never would have thought of (like mosaics and model trains). In some of my book reviews I go into a great deal of detail about the book's contents, but in this case, I think too much information ahead of time would spoil a lot of the surprises. I can pretty much guarantee that if you've ever used LEGO you will find something in this book that will surprise the daylights out of you. These little bricks can be put to use in so many more ways than just building castles and towers, and the minifigs can look like anyone you might imagine. The photos are amazing, and the book's design (featuring LEGO-brick graphics and the same bright primary colors as the bricks) is very appealing to the eye. With the history of LEGO, the descriptions of the ways people have gone beyond what's in the original box, and the photos of all those amazing creations, The Cult of LEGO is a clear winner.
Verdict
The Cult of LEGO
