The document discusses various architectural patterns for building stable applications that can handle failures when communicating with external services. It describes patterns like request caching, timeouts, retries, circuit breakers, and backup batteries. Backup batteries involve storing past responses to external requests locally so the application can continue functioning even if a service is unavailable. The key is to plan for failures, measure system performance, avoid relying solely on external dependencies, focus on resilience, prioritize users, and get creative in solving problems.