Christopher Alexander owns one of the most breathtakingly beautiful collections of antique Turkish rugs. He has shared it with the public both in exhibition and in his splendid -- covered in silk -- book.It ranges from the sophistication of a Rumi Carpet, to the stunning Seljuk rug.If you want a feast for the eyes, find it, look at it.

His text is somewhat more questionable, profoundly moving in his philosophy in the introductory parts, he unfortunately moves into a theory that, I am sure, no carpet knotter ever bothered with while making these masterpieces. He mentions in a footnote that it is likely that most of the rugs were woven by women -- a well known fact. However, throughout the body of the text he uses the generic "he" and refers to them as Sufi weavers. Since few women have ever been spoken of as Sufis, this tends to mislead.

Nonetheless, one can say of this adventerous architectural philosopher -- in choosing rugs, he shares the distinction with Curator Bill Rathbun of the Seattle Asian Art Museum of having some of the finest taste in Amercia. Rathbun's taste in textiles and art running particularly to the Japanese.

Alexander is a well known architect, and Professor of architecture at University of California at Berkely and founder of --------, as well as a innovater in computer technology.

There are a good many sites on the Web that mention Chirstopher Alexander; all are worth browsing. The particular one I have chosen to link to is an excellent speech he gave some time ago on Domestic Architecture and shows him at his thoughtful best.