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Thinking in Systems

By: Donella H. Meadows
Narrated by: Tia Rider Sorensen
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Summary

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
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Fantastic

Really enjoyed reading listening to this book. It’s gonna be going onto my favourites for a future re-Red relisten. Well done

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The most important book of all times

This is the most important book I have ever read (or listened to in this case). It needs to get in the hands of leaders at all levels: in government, education, business and civil society. Only by making meaningful systemic changes can we solve the largest problems facing our societies and planet, and change starts by understanding these systems. This, in turn, requires making systems part of our language and mental models. Educators have a large role to play in this; both in helping us expand our minds and in breaking their own disciplinary silos to accommodate systems thinking.

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Simple, yet intrigueing

Loved it. It tends to repeat things, but for learning it is just good. And in the end you’ll be wondering metaphysics!

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Everything is a system. As soon as you appreciate that everything else makes sense.

Loved it. As a clinician, educator, and researcher this book (and others relating to complexity and systems thinking) have given me a better insight into the world I’m trying to investigate. Written with a humility that comes only to the very capable this book is a fantastic “primer” for thinking about the world in a new way.

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Mind blowing

So many thought provoking ideas that you can't comprehend them in one go, you have to listen/read this many times

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A subject I was looking for decades

A wonderful perspective of basically everithing surrounds us. System thinking is a link between computer science and the whole world, for those who really wish to grasp to understand things around us. I wish to find more gems like this in the subject.

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Thought provoking

This book is for those who want to understand and apply their minds to the problem in life in a holistic way.

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A Powerful Way of Seeing

This book has helped me to see the world on new ways, and has revealed new ways of tackling challenges. I had heard of Systems Thinking through my other studies, but this book has given me a solid grounding in the basics of what it is, how it works, and how it can be used to solve real problems.

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Awesome book.

Necessary to start understanding the society and also to understand that there will always be a lot that it is not understandable.

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even better the second time

fasinating and rich topic that is well read. I got more from it the second and third time I listenned to it.

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