A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction

I didn't mean to read it. I picked it up intending to skim, scan, browse. It didn't work out that way.

This book is amazing. Not only do the authors have an eerie sense for human factors, they can communicate their findings. Well organized, well written, almost even inspirational. It was moment after moment of “aha!”, recognizing so many examples of what I've seen in real life to work and not to work. The gift of genius is to explain something so well that it seems obvious in hindsight; the authors accomplish that.

I think this has the potential to be a life-changing book. I wish I'd read it twenty years ago.

Ostensibly, a book about the philosophy of architecture, it teaches me that the problem and the core of any solution to the problem rely on an organized sets of pattern. This particular philosophy has served me well in how I tend to approach to solve problems that occur in the engineering design and research.

This is a weird book, separated into three parts. The first is on building utopian societies, by rethinking how to thoughtfully organize our macro world into things that work for humans. This section is aspirational without much in the way of how to bring it about—it's fun to think about, but probably not very relevant unless you're directly responsible for building a city.

The second part is what makes for good neighborhoods. Things like how far away parks should be in order to actually use them, what sorts of public squares people will hang out at, and how to bring about a sense of belonging and ownership in your local environment. This stuff reads like a guide to live in the city, much like my takeaways from “The Life and Death of Great American Cities.” While it might not be directly actionable, it's helpful for naming why things do or do not work, and is probably helpful when you're in a position to choose where you want to live.

The third part is on how to put together a building for humans to live in. It discusses things like the optimal size for a patio to encourage conversation, which rooms in your house should be in the sun, intimacy gradients of the rooms in which you will host people, and just generally how to make your place feel homey. This part is extremely actionable, especially if you're currently thinking about these things as I am.

I haven't finished this book, but intend to come back to it. The first two sections, not being particularly actionable, are fine to read front-to-back, but the third is much more random access. I'll certainly pick it back up (as reference material) when I buy a house.