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Thinking in Systems

A Primer

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Thinking in Systems

Written by: Donella H. Meadows
Narrated by: Tia Rider Sorensen
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About this listen

In the years following her role as the lead author of the international best seller, Limits to Growth - the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet - Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001.

Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem-solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing listeners 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.

While listeners will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds listeners to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner.

In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps listeners avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2008 Sustainability Institute (P)2018 Chelsea Green Publishing
Business Development Management Organisational Behaviour Physics Business Systems Systems Engineering

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No real insights

I'm not sure I learnt much from the book. Most of the book seems to be spent in repeating what any third year student of pretty much any engineering course would know. Not sure what the point of the book really is. Not worth wasting a credit on.

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Good Philosophical Introduction

This audio book is particularly interesting if you know little bit of modelling using differential equations. The take away is Intervening on such system would be difficult if you do not understand how sub-systems are interconnected. As a side note, I found the author unimaginably modest unlikeTaleb.

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A great introduction to systems thinking , classic

this book is a nice intro to begin your systems thinking journey , to world through systems lens , the 10 leverage points to change in a system+ systems traps, opportunities are the ones thatcaught my eyes &ears on.



Most people when they hear "system" = machine or some Government system, economic system , seperate than them

but seeing from a systems lens tells you that you are participating in it , dancing,taking responsibility of actions instead of prediction and control

I will relisten to this classic from time to time .


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Holistic & Multidisciplinary perspective

The book touches upon all rational dimensions of systems thinking & bridges the gap between rationality & consiousness, the place of nothingness where every being is bestowed with the power to choose. It gives many micro unique perspectives and an overarching macro perspective where it talks briefly yet impactfully about being consious n choosing what is to be chosen from a witness's perspective rather than blindly justifying things as rational based on man designed preset paradigms.

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Excellent read to broaden your thinking

Great book and helps to understand the big picture of systems design and behavior in real-life

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