HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Is anyone else here familiar with the work of Christopher Alexander? I'm specifically thinking of his 4 volume 'The Nature of Order.' Feels like low hanging fruit for all of us musicians who grasp for existential clarity as to the nature of our order.

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Order-Phenomenon-Environmental...

His most recent and probably more important work on the Nature of Order:

http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Order-Phenomenon-Environmental-...

Lovely argument that I would like to second.

I think you're the first person outside of my former research group that I've seen reference the Nature of Order. That made me very happy. It's too bad the books are so expensive – they deserve to be circulated more widely: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972652914/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...

⬐ unalone

I'm making my way through The Process of Creating Life. It's one of only two books that I've read in recent years that I can't read too much of at once – I get three pages in and have to stop, because of how excited I am about his arguments and its implications.

I was debating, at one point, scanning its pages and making a digital copy for my friends' sakes, but the work is so tremendous that I feel bad distributing it for free. I would love to work on a digital copy of the book formatted specifically for computers – seriously, if I know if any book that I'd recommend everybody read, it's this one.

⬐ Anchor

I'm making my way through The Process of Creating Life. It's one of only two books that I've read in recent years that I can't read too much of at once – I get three pages in and have to stop, because of how excited I am about his arguments and its implications.

I bought the whole The Nature of Order series five years ago and have been ever since trying to find a person who has read it. A have returned to the books periodically, and again and again feel the same excitement that prevents reading too much at one sitting. I have not yet encountered another book that does the same.

In fact, I feel the same way about writing this reply. It is as the implications of the book are too - how should I describe it - something to be spelled out; somehow I do not feel I can do justice to the text by discussing it. I do not even know where to begin.

Perhaps it is best summarized by saying just read it. Yes, this is a lousy book review, and the price tag is not of the average variety, but this is a series of books for (of) life.

⬐ lutusp

> I'm making my way through The Process of Creating Life.

Pro tip: always provide a link when you refer to a title:

http://www.amazon.com/Process-Creating-Life-Building-Univers...

(This doesn't constitute a recommendation, indeed, this book is way too expensive for its content.)

> I was debating, at one point, scanning its pages and making a digital copy for my friends' sakes ...

Pro tip: never say this online. It's a crime, you know? Granted, this book doesn't deserve to cost US$75.00, regardless of what's between its covers. But copying it would be a crime, one receiving a lot of attention right now.

⬐ unalone

Oops, my bad: should have linked.

> (This doesn't constitute a recommendation, indeed, this book is way too expensive for its content.)

I assume you're saying that without having read it? Because it is a marvelous and astonishing work – one that manages to simultaneously work out an abstract view of order while reasoning all the way to its practical outcomes – outcomes which Alexander's demonstrated in his decades of work as an architect. There's a reason it's so long, and it's that Alexander works rigorously through all his theories and their underpinnings until he can finally come up with practical ways of using them and, in using them, proving their correctness.

> Pro tip: never say this online. It's a crime, you know? Granted, this book doesn't deserve to cost US$75.00, regardless of what's between its covers. But copying it would be a crime, one receiving a lot of attention right now.

That's actually why I'm not making a copy of it. I don't say this about many books, but this one is entirely worth the outrageousness of its price (well, almost: I ordered used copies for 25-33% off). I plan to incorporate Alexander's ideas into works of my own, even hopefully write about them so they can reach a wider audience, but I respect the work far too much to think I have a right to give it away myself.

⬐ randallsquared

I haven't read it. However, if the work is that good, then the blurb is doing a terrible disservice to it.

"The processes of nature can make an infinite number of human faces, each one unique, [...]"

Starting off with something that's clearly untrue is not the best way to convince me that this book has deep insights. Maybe it's merely meant poetically.

⬐ lutusp

> I assume you're saying that without having read it?

No, I am saying the author doesn't want to disseminate his ideas, he wants to become rich. US$75.00 is simply too high a price for any book (not to say there aren't even more expensive books, but the same reasoning applies to them).

The only place where authors get away with this kind of pricing is when a college professor requires his class to buy his book, in which case the students have no choice. Outrageous but true.

This is not how you change the world, it's how you charge the world.

Also, even granted an avaricious motive and all other considerations aside, the author would probably make more money by pricing his book more realistically.

You may know the architect Christopher Alexander from "A Pattern Language" and his influence on design patterns/agile.

Later in life he studied the organizing principles of nature and well-man-made artifacts and discussed the common patterns in his books "On the nature of order" [1]. The ideas are perhaps more grandiose than this author is discussing, but also very interesting when applied to engineering.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Order-Phenomenon-Environmental-...