It may be helpful to read the first work in the series to give you an idea of the general framework: The Timeless Way of Building. In the Timeless Way, Alexander exposes his general theory of “building” (again, the intent could be anything from a country to a simple home). A Pattern Language is a compendium of the elements that one would use to flesh out a project. I also read Pattern Language first and was baffled by it until having read the Timeless Way, at which point it all fell into place for me.
I believe that there are PDF copies available on archive.org.
It may be helpful to read the first work in the series to give you an idea of the general framework: The Timeless Way of Building. In the Timeless Way, Alexander exposes his general theory of “building” (again, the intent could be anything from a country to a simple home). A Pattern Language is a compendium of the elements that one would use to flesh out a project. I also read Pattern Language first and was baffled by it until having read the Timeless Way, at which point it all fell into place for me. I believe that there are PDF copies available on archive.org.