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The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1
 
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The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1 (Hardcover)

by Christopher Alexander (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £42.50
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Frequently Bought Together

The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1 + Process of Creating Life: The Nature of Order, Book 2: Bk. 2 + The Luminous Ground: The Nature of Order, Book 4: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe: Bk. 4
Price For All Three: £117.99

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 476 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (15 Jul 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0972652914
  • ISBN-13: 978-0972652919
  • Product Dimensions: 27.9 x 20.1 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 64,998 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #64 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy > Topics > Metaphysics
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Product Description

Product Description

Christopher Alexander's masterwork, the result of 27 years of research, considers three vital perspectives: a scientific perspective; a perspective based on beauty and grace; a commonsense perspective based on our intuitions and everyday life.


From the Back Cover

In book one of this four-volume work, Alexander describes a scientific view of the world in which all space-matter has perceptible degrees of life, and sets this understanding of living structures as an intellectual basis for a new architecture.

He identifies fifteen geometric properties which tend to accompany the presence of life in nature, and also in the buildings and cities we make. These properties are seen over and over in nature, and in cities and streets of the past, but have all but disappeared in the deadly developments and buildings of the last one hundred years.

The book shows that living structure depends on features which make a close connection with the human self, and that only living structure has the capacity to support human well-being.

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unsurpassed and beautiful, 26 Feb 2004
By Stephen Muires (Bryn Athyn, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a very beautiful book. In content, form, layout, pictures, style. It would be possible to write a very lengthy review, but that is not necessary here. Alexander is known from his work on pattern languages in architecture, and indirectly from the spin-off into software engineering. The current book, the first of a series of 4, has been a long time in coming. That is noticable. The thoughts and ideas are matured and fine-tuned. It's an easy read, if not an easy understand. But it's thrilling to read, slowly.

The central ideas of the book are difficult to accept, but also difficult to deny. And Alexander makes the effort to really expose and explain them, calmly and thoroughly. No arrogance.

I compare this work to Stephen Wolfram and Frank Tipler, who have also created some monumental insights that don't quite fit in anywhere.

There are few books that I can recommend as highly as this one.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, 6 Jun 2005
I still haven't finished volume 1. I am savouring it. Actually I want to give up my job so I can concentrate on it properly. It is thrilling: cleverly written so that it makes you feel smarter than you are; clever repetition so that while you may feel you understood it the first time, you might really understand it by the end; perfectly laid out with every illustration made to count; wonderfully rude about some modern buildings (I love modern buildings but he is so right on the ones he castigates). I got it because I adored the pattern language. I want to build a house that incorporates these ideas but I think I need to wait a few years until I really have grasped it properly.
Anyone interested in buildings, the environment, culture, life, should read these books. I can't believe he isn't better known and treasured for the genius he is and the brilliant ideas he conveys so well.
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