The Nature of Order, Book Two: the Process of Creating Life
Language: English
Published by Center for Environmental Structure, US, 2002
Series: Book 2 of 4 - Nature of Order
- Hardcover
- New
Seller: Rarewaves.com USA, London, London, United KingdomRarewaves.com USA
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
Condition: New
£ 73.57
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Christopher Alexander's series of ground-breaking books including A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building have pointed to fundamental truths of the way we build, revealing what gives life and beauty and true functionality to our buildings and towns. Now, in The Nature of Order, Alexander explores the properties of life itself, highlighting a set of well-defined structures present in all order and in all life from micro-organisms and mountain ranges to good houses and vibrant communities.Scientifically, The Process of Creating Life is perhaps the most exciting of the four books. How do beautiful creations come into being? Nature can make an infinite number of human faces, each one unique, each one beautiful. The same is true for daffodils, streams, and stars. But man-made creations especially the towns and buildings of the 20th century have only occasionally been really good, more often mediocre, and in the last 50 years have most often been deadly. What is the reason for the difference? It hinges on the deep nature of the processes we use. Merely understanding the geometry of beautiful and living form (the topic of Book 1) is not enough to help us create such a living geometry.In the 20th century our society was locked into deadly processes which created our current built environment, process that most people were not really aware of and did not question. Despite their best efforts and intentions, architects and planners working within these processes could not achieve a living built environment. Life and beauty in the built world arise only from processes which allow living structure to unfold. The secret lies in knowing, as nature does, what must happen in what order: what sequence of events allows a living form to unfold successfully?Here, in Book 2, Alexander puts forward a fully developed theory of living process. He defines conditions for a process to be living: that is, capable of generating living structure. He shows how such processes work, and how they may be created. At the core of the new theory is the theory of structure-preserving transformations. This concept, new in scientific thinking, is based on the concept of wholeness defined in Book 1: A structure-preserving transformation is one which preserves, extends, and enhances the wholeness of a system.Structure-preserving transformations provide the means for any step-by-step process social, biological, architectural, or technical to reach configurations which are most profound, most capable of supporting life. The process of creation whether in the formation of a single object, or in the piece-meal aggregation of a town requires this sort of generative process, a careful and deliberate sequence of steps in which each step creates the context for the next one, and each next wholeness is derived from the previous wholeness. Our billions of beautiful and unique human faces come from one class of sequences.Driven by these sequences, an initial cell differentiates again and.…
Seller Inventory # LU-9780972652926
- Title
- The Nature of Order, Book Two: the Process of Creating Life
- Author
- Christopher Alexander
- Publisher
- Center for Environmental Structure, US
- Publication year
- 2002
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0972652922
- ISBN 13
- 9780972652926
- Item weight
- 1,660 grams
- Series
- Book 2 of 4: Nature of Order
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Rarewaves.com USA
London, London, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 12 to 17 business days | 12 to 17 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 0.00 | £ 0.00 |
Payment methods
Seller's business information
RAREWAVES.COM LIMITED
Elsley Court, 20-22 Great Titchfield Street
London, United Kingdom W1W 8BE
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Rarewaves.com USA, Unit 144 The Lightbox, 111 Power Road, W4 5PY, London, London, United Kingdom, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Please note that we do not offer Priority shipping to any country.
We currently do not ship to the below countries:
Russia
Belarus
Ukraine
Please do not attempt to place orders with any of these countries as a ship to address - they will be cancelled.