HN Books @HNBooksMonth

For anyone who wants to see a pragmatic way to build cities and communities, I'd highly recommend Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Constructi...

⬐ spraak

This book is really amazing in its level of detail and specificity and incredible how it's still relevant.

⬐ carapace

And his "Build Living Neighborhoods" site: http://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm

That incidentally is the idea behind Patterns... not this "pick a pattern to solve the problem" - or worse yet, "here's a Pattern, find the problem to solve."

The shard language. The GoF wanted that shared language, but people missed the ideal behind it and thought it was a cookbook instead.

The GoF draws from A Pattern Language ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195019199/ ) and I believe does a better job at communicating what Patterns should be - a common language and broad brush strokes of solving common problems (though almost always require some tweaking to make it fit just right).

If you haven't, I highly recommend A Pattern Language. It's full of fascinating insights into the ways functional design interacts with our lives (and perhaps moreso, how dysfunctional design impedes it).

http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Constructio...

⬐ jnicholasp

Seconded. This is a really fascinating book for anyone who is interested in how space and environment affect us, or anyone who wants to build or remodel their own home/office/pub/any other human-used space. Whether or not you agree with any of the particular patterns (and there are hundreds), the authors' discussion of why they think each one is worth considering will make you think more deeply about the way buildings function and influence our behavior, and will prompt better, clearer ideas for how you want the spaces you live in to work for you.

⬐ gdubs

It really is an incredible work. It changed the way I look at architecture, but also community and the importance of 'human scale' interaction.

I find this one more useful for residential building design, by the same author: http://www.iwritewordsgood.com/apl/set.htm

Available in hardcover on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Constructio...

ATWoB is more philosophical, and lest about specific implementation.

APL includes nuggets along these lines: "Therefore: Make a public square much smaller than you would at first imagine; usually no more than 45 to 60 feet across, never more than 70 feet across. This applies only to its width in the short direction. In the long direction it can certainly be longer."

"When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty.[...]Therefore: Locate each room so that it has outdoor space outside it on at least two sides, and then place windows in these outdoor walls so that natural light falls into every room from more than one direction."

There are 253 patterns in the book, covering governed regions down to building wall details.

⬐ sthorn

Thumbs up for APL.

Most of the patterns are based on common sense and practical experience. What's novel is that they're written down and cross-referenced.

I find myself frequently nodding my head in agreement while reading - it's immensely satisfying to see ideas in concrete form that have been floating about in my head for years.

Read "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander. http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Constructio...

⬐ kylemathews

And "Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed" - http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Like-State-Institution-Universi...

⬐ nooneelse

Does it mention Disney's grand vision for Epcot?

Addendum: I realized on the way home that this comment was rather too content-free for HN. So...

More specifically, I was curious if the book you mention has some narrative or historical details on why the grand Epcot vision fell apart/was stymied.

⬐ paganel

Great book! That's actually the book that got me interested in the recent history of my city, which suffered major changes (most say for the worst) that seem to have been taken up from the book's chapters on mdoernist urban development. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceau%C5%9Fima)

⬐ Turing_Machine

For a short and directly on-point piece by Alexander, see:

http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htm

For some commentary on that piece, see:

http://contraterrene.com/wiki/index.php/Commentary_on_%22A_C...

tl,dr: designing cities as hierarchical trees, while perhaps efficient in the sense of transportation links, is a bad idea from the standpoint of making a cohesive city.

⬐ scarmig

Interestingly, "A Pattern Language" directly inspired the GoF book.

It has similar flaws, as well. It should be considered descriptive, not prescriptive--and Christopher Alexander is not nearly as careful around that distinction as the GoF.

⬐ nikhilalmeida

Thanks for this. I have just drawn what I felt from a traffic congestion avoidance perspective. I should give it a thought from an environmental perspective also and try to re-iterate on the design. Thanks for the feedback.

⬐ enf

And also Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford, which advocates a form of linked neighborhoods similar to what is described here. http://www.carfree.com/book/

Wow, first criticism I've ever heard of GEB.

Finally got off my ass and purchased Pattern Language. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195019199, right?)

⬐ gruseom

That's the one. I hope you enjoy thumbing through it.

The first thing from that book that caught my attention was his point about rooms feeling more alive when they have light coming in on two different sides. I've noticed that, or the lack of it, in just about every room ever since.

Hofstadter? It's always the same grad-students-drinking-beer mentality: hey man, this thing is totally like that other thing. The connections seem profound, but are not, because they don't have deep roots in anything. The real tell is that nothing of great value ever comes out of this way of doing business (I mean this style, not H's work specifically). It's an intellectual sugar rush.

But again, perhaps I am unfair.

For me it's not even a programming book... which is what I felt the people who have answered have artificially limited themselves to.

For me, it's: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195019199

Pattern Language

It's about architecture, buildings, towns. How to make them work, to serve all the needs of them, and how to allow them to grow.

What is important to me and influenced me heavily is the thinking behind it. All parts of a large system in harmony, well-separated concerns, and working together to achieve a common goal.

In architecture (computer as well as construction), there is also politics. We pour ourselves into these systems, our beliefs come out in their design and implementation.

There was a lot that I learned from that book, and a lot that I still go back and refer to.

GOF took their inspiration here, it's obvious from the structure... perhaps you should see why?

⬐ yvdriess

What is this sudden feeling? It is like a thousand HN readers cringed simultaneously.

Looks like a great book - adding it to my wish list. Thanks

(link to book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Constructio... )