I think you are being unfair towards GoF. GoF came out when Object Orientation was the rage and it provided a useful compendium of solution archetypes that can be used in response to (solved, recurring) problems. That is not to cast aspersions on your personal experience. It sounds like you had an encounter with an Architecture Astronaut and ended up in a bad place, but the fact that you are writing about it is a good thing, isn't it?

I also agree that "changed my x" is a bit of a stretch; perhaps it's hyperbole and should be taken as such. There are very few "things" that change one's life. Perhaps being in a war, or a natural disaster or some such, having an encounter with death but averting it or some such event could singlehandedly change one's life, but I doubt that reading a book or a set of books is one of them.