Culicidae Architectural Press will publish Jenny Quillien’s book Delight’s Muse: On Christopher Alexander’s “The Nature of Order” in the fall of 2007.

Below is some more information about the book, compiled by the author:

“The Nature of Order, Alexander’s four-volume magnum opus, runs almost 2000 pages. The length alone will deter many potential readers. Its breadth will deter others. The topic is everything—well, almost everything—the nature of order in the universe, science, art, and again and again (since Alexander is, after all, an architect) the nature of order in our habitats.

My understanding of The Nature of Order is based on six years of collaborating directly with Alexander on the manuscript. Delight’s Muse summarizes that work for the general reader. One goal is to provide a stepping-stone into the original material. Armed with an overview and an initial understanding of the main themes, potential readers of the four volumes can more easily navigate the labyrinth as well as enjoy the finer points and fuller discussions. A second goal is to forefront the basic scaffolding of what can be considered a new General Theory.

Additional interpretive sections of Delight’s Muse recount my attempts to implement Alexander’s new ideas on a small scale. Here also are short essays which aim to more clearly place The Nature of Order within the current Zeitgeist in science (notably biology and complexity theory). Further commentaries consider The Nature of Order in the context of Alexander’s previous publications. Readers of those earlier books will find familiar questions and goals still present, but now the scope of inquiry is far greater and it invokes a radically new vocabulary.”

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