I want to first thank my wife, for the little and not so little things she did to support me during the writing of this book. For more than once putting a blanket over me when I’d fallen asleep on the futon after a night of creating yet more images for the book. And for seeing me through my illness and surgery just months after the book was started. I know all of this was more than she had bargained for, but her example and her determination helped me get back on track and get to the end of this rewarding project.

My parents deserve more than just a little credit for their role in this book’s creation. First, for having the foresight to not dispose of my LEGO bricks when I went off to college. But seriously and more importantly, for letting me rediscover those bricks as an adult and at the same time reconnect with the nine-year-old kid still inside me. It’s impossible to express how comforting it is that no matter how old (or young) I am they are there every step of the way. Not just when it comes to LEGO, but everything else too. Their support for and belief in this book has been remarkable and unwavering.

I want to give a special nod to Grandma B. for lessons in patience and grace that no book could ever teach me.

The picture from LEGOLAND California that opens Chapter 4 was used with the kind permission of Tim Strutt of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The rest of the chapter was easier to write knowing that people could visualize the building style I was talking about.

A special thanks goes to all of the software and parts authors in the “virtual” LEGO community. Many of the images in this book were produced with their tools and without them the book would not be nearly as interesting. Be sure to visit http://ldraw.org to get started building your own virtual LEGO models.

Thank you to John Fiala, Joe Meno, and Frédéric Siva. I appreciate all the time they put into reading and reviewing the book and I’m grateful for all of the honest and insightful feedback they provided.

To the gang at No Starch Press I offer my thanks for not only believing in this book from the beginning but for their limitless patience in helping me get it to the end.

Special thanks go to my friend Derek Robson for helping me source out a computer to handle the huge volume of image rendering and file storage that was required to complete the book. The machine I had when I started writing would never have made it to the end.

My friend Derek Iddison is a LEGO builder whose work I greatly admire. He was the first to know about the book but more importantly the first to encourage me to actually pursue writing it and getting it published.