The big, big patterns TylerVolk identifies are things like circle, border, and pair.
This book is firmly in the Platonic tradition of searching for Ideals. I found it to be devoid of insight- I don't really care that eyeballs are circles and so is the sun. Big thoughts, no impact.
OTOH, if it pissed me off enough to make a WikiPage for it, it might have been worth reading. --KentBeck
What is supposed to be 'Meta' about a circle anyway? Meta-circle?! Doesn't compute. --FalkBruegmann
Who can say for any meta, what's the MetaPhor? --JohnAbbe