You may know the architect Christopher Alexander from "A Pattern Language" and his influence on design patterns/agile.
Later in life he studied the organizing principles of nature and well-man-made artifacts and discussed the common patterns in his books "On the nature of order" [1]. The ideas are perhaps more grandiose than this author is discussing, but also very interesting when applied to engineering.
Later in life he studied the organizing principles of nature and well-man-made artifacts and discussed the common patterns in his books "On the nature of order" [1]. The ideas are perhaps more grandiose than this author is discussing, but also very interesting when applied to engineering.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Order-Phenomenon-Environmental-...