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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Seems fairly intuitive but brings up some points that are good to consider when thinking about things.
"Let's face it, the universe is messy. It is nonlinear, turbulent, and dynamic. It spends its time in transient behavior on its way to somewhere else, not in mathematically neat equilibria. It self-organizes and evolves. It creates diversity and uniformity. That's what makes the world interesting, that's what makes it beautiful, and that's what make it work."
Meadows was a giant in the early systems thinking world and has influenced generations of systems thinkers. While this is a posthumous publication functioning more as an introduction, it nevertheless contains depth and complexity--quite appropriate for the subject.
Meadows was a giant in the early systems thinking world and has influenced generations of systems thinkers. While this is a posthumous publication functioning more as an introduction, it nevertheless contains depth and complexity--quite appropriate for the subject.
informative
medium-paced
i had high hopes based on vicki boykis' recommendation on twitter but was quite disappointed. the book begins with a solid verbal introduction to "systems thinking," which to the best of my understanding here means using differential equations or agent based models. there is then a nice but informal discussion of these systems and properties they can exhibit, illustrated on some very simple toy examples.
at this point, everything falls apart. the examples become primarily sociological: meadows describes systems based approaches to the economy, to addiction, and myriad other social problems. the issue here is that she never demonstrates that systems thinking actually applies to sociological problems, instead claiming rather breathlessly that they do, much in the tradition of other brigading but failed academic projects by physic, econ, cs, etc. in practice, i know of very few differential equation based models applied outside of natural sciences contexts in modern settings, which suggests to me that the claims to broad social applicability in this book did not stand the test of time and may amount to little more than (engaging!) thought experiments.
the book concludes with some generally good advice on how to intervene on real world systems, but i was so irritated by "intervene based on a model which is sure to be correct despite the fact that you never validated it" reasoning that i mostly skimmed it in a huff
at this point, everything falls apart. the examples become primarily sociological: meadows describes systems based approaches to the economy, to addiction, and myriad other social problems. the issue here is that she never demonstrates that systems thinking actually applies to sociological problems, instead claiming rather breathlessly that they do, much in the tradition of other brigading but failed academic projects by physic, econ, cs, etc. in practice, i know of very few differential equation based models applied outside of natural sciences contexts in modern settings, which suggests to me that the claims to broad social applicability in this book did not stand the test of time and may amount to little more than (engaging!) thought experiments.
the book concludes with some generally good advice on how to intervene on real world systems, but i was so irritated by "intervene based on a model which is sure to be correct despite the fact that you never validated it" reasoning that i mostly skimmed it in a huff
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
A concise, articulate textbook for those just getting into systems thinking. I love the examples that are provided since they make understanding systems a lot more concrete.
This is arguably one of the most impactful books I’ve read in recent times.
The late Donna Meadows’ grasp of Systems Thinking is incredibly profound and I am grateful that she shared her thinking before her passing.
This book is easy reading, but don’t be fooled: the content is extremely rich and dense.
There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be revisiting this content as I continue on my Systems Thinking learning journey.
(I hope to expand on this review in the near future)
The late Donna Meadows’ grasp of Systems Thinking is incredibly profound and I am grateful that she shared her thinking before her passing.
This book is easy reading, but don’t be fooled: the content is extremely rich and dense.
There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be revisiting this content as I continue on my Systems Thinking learning journey.
(I hope to expand on this review in the near future)
challenging
informative
medium-paced