I would actually recommend his "The Timeless Way of Building" [1] instead. :) This is the book that explains the philosophy and thinking behind all those patterns, and where I personally found the vast majority of his insight.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Ale...

What makes something feel alive? How do you design it to be so? Christopher Alexander answers in "The Timeless Way of Building":

https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Ale...

I highly recommend the book (it is a quick and funny read) but to give you my short version: post WW2, academic architecture was taken over by anti-traditionalists, and purity spiraling lead to what Wolfe called "The Yale Box". People like Christopher Alexander[1] were ignored or shouted down as fascist, the craftsmen who were able to build the old way all died apprenticeless, and here we are.

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Ale...