Product Description

In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, "Limits to Growth", Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Meadows' newly released manuscript, edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world - war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation - are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. Although both tools and methods are included, the heart of the book reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble and to continue to learn. "Thinking in Systems" helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22866 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind.' Hunter Lovins, founder and President of Natural Capital Solutions and co-author of Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.

About the Author
Donella H. Meadows was a pioneering environmental scientist, author, teacher, and farmer widely considered ahead of her time. She was one of the world's foremost systems analysts and lead author of the influential Limits to Growth. She was Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College, the founder of the Sustainability Institute and cofounder of the International Network of Resource Information Centers.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Primer on Systems Thinking
I have a more thorugh review on my website. But let me just say, that I really enjoyed this book a lot.

The central insight of the book (and systems thinking in general) is, that manipulation of a system can suppress or release some behaviour which is latent within the structure of a system. A system can cause its own behaviour.

It is easy to see, why such insights carry an important message to anyone wishing to manipulate a complex systems into a desired state, such as architects, organisational designers, or business process designers. The book urges us to consider systems thinking complementary to reductionistic analysis, not throwing either of the paradigms out with the bathing water.

I usually don't comment on the appendix on the book, but in this case I will make an exception; the appendix is excellent and containts both a very useful glossary, as well as the main points of the book in bulletpoints.

This book is an extremely interesting read, and in particular relevant for people dealing with changes in complex structures, such as organisations, architectures, or business processes. For some readers, this primer will be a complete eye opener, changing the way the world is seen, For other, the will start to give them a vocabulary and a framework for understanding what they already knew by intuition.

The book provides a lens for understanding systems - and an excellent at that!

A fresh approach to problem solving
It is a enjoyable read about the way in which we think and model the world around us.
The book doesn't go beyond the very basics of System theories, the main aim of the author is to change our approach to problem solving.

Facinating look at systems
I found this book quite brilliant,even though I didn't really know about systems theory.Its so well written every page seemed to offer some really novel way at looking at the world. Best non fiction book I've read in a while.