Thinking in systems

by

Paperback, 218 pages

Published June 7, 2009 by Earthscan.

ISBN:
978-1-84407-726-7
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4 stars (7 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.

2 editions

reviewed Thinking in systems by Donella H. Meadows

System System

2 stars

Donella Meadows is one of the 20th Century's most well known systems theorists, mostly due to her landmark book Limits to Growth. This follow-on, written in the 90s and published in 2006, is a high-level introduction to systems theory.

As a basic book on a subject, it is accessible and sometimes enjoyable. It is strongeSt when Meadows is exploring comcepts like nonlnear systems, where as a reader you can consider the implications. But the book is not well written, and uses far too many examples, sometimes contradictory ones, without useful evidence or theory. While it is refreshing to see a stance in the 90s that supports systemic change, other more recent books do this better.

Also, the unapologetic references to Garrett Hardin are pretty unpalettable to anyone who knows about him.

reviewed Thinking in systems by Donella H. Meadows

Review of 'Thinking in systems' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Reread it.
Good introduction to systems thinking at an informal level. No mathematics, but useful as a primer for bullshit detection for those who aren't going to model systems but want to see why many "solutions" to problems won't work because systems aren't as simple as (for example) politicians make out.

Although only one technique is introduced - stocks and flows - the book shows it's applicability across multiple domains like ecology, economics and many others. Then mostly focuses on how various traps caused by over-simple thinking can be recognized and some ways out.
There are examples (again, informal)
An optimistic book that shows ways we can do better in social policy but unintentionally pessimistic because examples from 1990s still haunting us.

One star removed because there are some significant errors. For example, although Meadows talks about several natural systems (e.g. ecology), she says "every system has a purpose", yet …

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