Thinking in Systems: International Bestseller

As the title suggests, this book is written as a 'primer' into the subject, and it fulfils this function with ease and grace. It has the confident feel and logical evolved structure of a book written by someone who had completely mastered her subject and was well used to introducing these key ideas to her university students. There is a strong emphasis within the book on economic and environmental issues, which suited me well. I presume that the late author held quite progressive environmental views anyway, but systems thinking engenders and illuminates environmental concerns better than any other approach I can think of. The sections on resource depletion are both fascinating and frighteningly realistic. Although the issues and underlying thinking was not necessarily always original to systems thinking, the language (labelling of terms) and often counter-intuitive approach of systems modelling has got a lot to give in these two subjects. Concepts introduced such as information hierarchies and resilience, are both common sense and useful intellectual tools at the same time. "I think of resilience as a plateau upon which the system can play, performing its normal functions in safety. A resilient system has a big plateau, a lot of space over which it can wonder, with gentle, elastic walls that will bounce it back, if it comes near a dangerous edge. As a system loses its resilience, its plateau shrinks, and its protective walls become lower and more rigid, until the system is operating on a knife edge, likely to fall off in one direction or another whenever it makes a move. Loss of resilience can come as a surprise, because the system usually is paying much more attention to its play than to its playing space. One day it does something it has done a hundred times before and crashes."p78 Looking back through it, the structure of this book is also very good as I have mentioned. It progresses in a logical way from the practicalities of systems thinking through to their implications and ends with some quite philosophical themes and advice. As another reviewer has mentioned, the appendix is actually useful in this book for a change, and seems in parts like a list of the key points of the book in a type of student revision notes form. The writing and citations in this book almost seem to suggest an air of bemused condescension on behalf of systems thinkers for their misdirected non systems thinking fellow man and the subsequent mistakes they make. Similar to the airy condescension of free market economists, but more justified and less disproved by recent events. There are many examples given which justify this air of superiority, and it seems to me to be an easy stance to buy into! Systems thinking does seem to contain the right tools for tackling the biggest contemporary problems. Anyone suggest a suitable follow up book on systems thinking? ( preferably one biased towards economics) Very accessible and recommended to all as an enjoyable introduction to this subject.

Great book

The book provides an easy to understand perspective on systems thinking and it's value when approached honestly. Worth reading, a good primer.

I recommend Thinking in Systems because it has changed the way I understand and relate to my world. Published after Donella Meadow's death, it introduces Systems Thinking by way of definition, illustration and application. In Part 1, System Structure and Behaviour, Meadows uses two graphical tools to analyse systems: stock and flow diagrams to show system structure; and charts mapping stock or flow levels over time to explore system behaviour for specific scenarios. The diagrams can be used to display "balancing" (aka "negative") and "reinforcing" (aka "positive") feedback loops, and the charts to explore how these might play out. While some of the systems might seem simplistic, they build up understanding of a key Systems Thinking insight, that systems generate their own behaviour. And if you're ever wondered why the "heroes and villains" style of explanation only works in retrospect, this is a damn good explanation. Chapter two, The Zoo, is a library of common system structures and their behaviour. Those of us from the software world will be reminded of a patterns library. Again, these patterns illustrate a deeper insight, that "systems with similar feedback structures produce similar dynamic behaviors, even if the outward appearance of these systems is completely dissimilar." (p 51) In Part 2, Systems and Us, Meadows applies Systems Thinking to our world. Many of the examples are dated, but I found myself thinking how applicable these patterns and insights were to topics I was currently encountering - for example, I can't help thinking she would have loved the way that Kanban reflects a systems learning, that the ability of people and organisations to execute tasks degrades rapidly as the number of tasks rises beyond a critical limit. Of course one natural and urgent interest in systems behaviour is how to change it. If worshipping heroes and lynching villains isn't going to reform systems that may exhibit non-linear, perverse or self-preserving behaviour, what is? In Part 3, Creating Change in System and in our Philosophy, Meadows gives us a dozen leverage points for changing systems, starting with the simplest and ending with the most powerful. She finishes with a list of "systems wisdoms" - attitudes and values that she and others she respects have adopted to make them more effective at understanding and changing the systems we live in. Like many of the other reviewers, I wish I'd read this book a long time ago. It has its limitations - I'd love to see more recent examples, and can't help wondering if there are any open-source Systems modelling resources. But for me this is a book of timeless value for anyone interested in a better understanding of their world and their options in it.

Okay

This book came recommended in Josh Kaufmann's The Personal MBA in a section on systems. Wanting to know a bit more on the subject I purchased this book on my kindle and was presently surprised by how well it was written. I felt that I came away with a better understanding of systems- and in sufficient detail for my needs. This is very much a primer and not for those wanting a detailed look at the field.

This was one of the best books I have read. Any layperson should read it I really think it should be mandatory reading in schools. It's not only a book about how systems work. The book gives you a different mental perspective on how to think about the world. You start seeing thinks differently.

A primer to systems thinking indeed! I gave this book 5 stars not just because the contents are incredibly useful, but also because it reads as smoothly as any well written novel. If you are interested in how the world works then you are in the right place. But beware, unlike many others, this book offers no easy solutions. Yet in its description of complexity, its admission of "it's effing difficult", its many examples of how easy it is to get it wrong when trying to solve big, complex problems one does not find a sense of despair and futility of effort, no, one finds a sense of empowerment in understanding how "everything relates to everything" which is why it is so so difficult to design workable solutions without the systems view of the problem. Mrs Meadows also does another thing: she manages our expectations. Even with the right tools and a hope that we indeed can successfully intervene in big, complex problems she makes it clear that it won't be easy, it won't take only a few weeks, we might not get it right the first three times and we might even make it worse before we improve anything. It's okay though, because that is how it works. Moving forward is a slow and difficult process, but thanks to Mrs Meadows we might be at least slightly confident that our effort is in the right direction. Go read it.

Fantastic book - one of it’s kind. Must read for developing a perspective on systems thinking. A book that one can read several times!

This primer lays out systems theory basics in a way that is easy to understand and fun to read. I have been going through the bibliography for some further reading.

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It is a great read.

Comece por esse livro se estiver chegando ao tema de sistemas agora. Aprofunde-se com este livro se já tiver estudado sobre sistemas. O pensamento sistêmico é um antídoto para alguns dos mais complexos e desafiadores problemas da humanidade. Deveria ser matéria obrigatória nas escolas e faculdades. Esse livro ensina os fundamentos, de forma sólida e direta. Uma pena ainda não ser traduzido para português.