This was a tremendously influential book, both on architecture and urban planning as well as software design, and that was the lens with which I read it. It's not really a book that you read -- it's a huge very dense book, and a lot of the patterns themselves seem like they would be unworkable in the real world. I skimmed most of it (conveniently, the book is printed with the main argument for each pattern printed in boldface). Nonetheless I found this a fascinating book for its structure and ideas.

So five stars for the impact, and four for the content.