Thinking in Systems

A Primer

by Donella H. Meadows, Diana Wright

Audiobook

Published July 19, 2018 by Chelsea Green Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-60358-847-8

(5 reviews)

A clear, thoughtful, and wide-reaching exploration of complex systems, in theory and in practice. Meadows was a masterful and elegant writer and researcher, and an early voice in systems analysis at MIT and elsewhere. This book, completed from draft manuscript after Meadows' death, is both accessible and deeply thought-provoking. She connects the dots between careful descriptions of systems analysis and systems insights, and the personal, social, societal, and political implications of systems thinking.

3 editions

loppear reviewed Thinking in systems by Donella H. Meadows

(I haven't re-read this in a decade, but still think in it)

5 stars

Clear and illustrative use of language shines through this (and is immediately recognizable from Limits to Growth). Really outstanding short introduction to systems thinking, why systems surprise us, and why systems thinking is also no silver bullet for control of the complex systems that make up our world. The best (and final) chapters of this book are available online www.donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/ and www.donellameadows.org/dancing-with-systems/