The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order by Christopher Alexanderby Christopher Alexander
Ranked 12 of 12 design books by recommenders
Recommended for its ideas on order and living structure, though critics find it long-winded, vague and dense, and aimed at a high level of abstraction.
Recommended for its ideas on order and living structure, though critics find it long-winded, vague and dense, and aimed at a high level of abstraction.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 40%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Enjoyable despite being long-winded
“although he can be long-winded and vague at times, I'm absolutely loving them”
Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Wendell Berry has died”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Dense and hard to read
“I remember trying to read his four book Magnum opus and found it much too dense”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “All 253 Patterns from Christopher Alexander's a Pattern Language Summarized” Long-winded and vague at times
“although he can be long-winded and vague at times, I'm absolutely loving them”
Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Wendell Berry has died”
Other design books people recommend
The four most recommended other design books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Design of Everyday Thingsby Don Norman | 29 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Refactoring UIby Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger | 14 | 3 | 82% | 3 | — | — |
| Don't Make Me Thinkby Steve Krug | 12 | 1 | 92% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Practical Typographyby Matthew Butterick | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Nature of Orderby Christopher AlexanderThis page | 2 | 3 | 40% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“although he can be long-winded and vague at times, I'm absolutely loving them”
“I remember trying to read his four book Magnum opus and found it much too dense”
“Late Alexander ( The Nature of Order ) is slightly less blatant and aims at a higher level of abstraction, but the effect is similar.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.