Customer Reviews

Thinking in Systems: A Primer

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While earning my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I was constantly bombarded by all kinds of systems. Thinking in systems is a critical part of many areas of engineering. Whether you are looking at an electrical circuit, an ecosystem, HVAC, pot roast or a nuclear reactor, there are many similarities in behavior and structure. Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows does a great job demonstrating the purpose and approach of mapping everything and anything to a logical system.

The first half of the book introduces the reader gently to the basics of what a system is and how they are defined. You'll learn about feedback loops, flows and stocks. I found this section repetitive, basic and boring. However, if you haven't had this stuff drilled into your head for four years, it may have more to offer you.

The second half of the book I found incredibly informative and interesting. The author departs from an engineering perspective here and you'll see less and less charts and diagrams at this point. Chapters five and six discuss common reasons why systems fail and how to help them succeed. There are some quirky assumptions we seem to erroneously make over and over. The author is kind enough to lay them out plainly so you don't fall victim to the same mistakes (though you surely will).

The real joy of this book is the reason I wanted to become an engineer: it helps you understand more about the world around you. Thinking in Systems can apply to just about anything. It's a pretty powerful concept that could help you more logically organize your problem solving at work or home. This book only offers a basic introduction, but even with a degree in a related science, I still learned a lot (mostly in chapters 5 and 6). If you do pick it up and enjoy it, I'd recommend checking out some (slightly) more technical offering that delve into a wider range of systems modeling with higher math.

In a nutshell, this book is about systems. So much more than this, it is a journey into the meta-rules of how the universe and everything in it comes and "plays" together. There is one thing to be understood that applies to physiology, businesses, economies, plants and puppies alike. Everything is a system. And all systems have behaviors and rules. As Donella Meadows writes: "The trick...is to recognize what structures contain which latent behaviors, and what conditions release those behaviors -- and where possible to arrange the structures and conditions to reduce the probability of destructive behaviors and to encourage the possibility of beneficial ones."

Grasping "the whole universe" is certainly a momumental task. The book brilliantly presents concepts in very graspable units. She starts with picturing what a system is -- a stock with inflows and outflows that affect its stability and all of which are further affected by feedback loops and delays.

So armed with this model, individuals may be better guided in their decisions and actions as it becomes clear that actions can beget other actions and reactions (or unintended consequences.) But there is even more complexity. For instance, policies are a way to control the stocks and flows within a system. However, one of several behavior archetypes is policy resistance which comes from the bounded rationality of the actors within a system, each with his or her own goal. Meadows takes the reader on a deep and thought-provoking journey through all the behavior archetypes of systems. The result is an empowering "forewarned is forearmed" knowledge.

That is the ultimate goal of this book. When people affect positive change in the world -- and it just may be everyone's duty to do that -- it is through smart and correct controls on a system. Ms. Meadows then gives the knowledge to do this. She lays out the leverage points in any system -- the opportunities for making things right or better. The coda is a legacy of thoughts to live by, the last and perhaps most important of which is "Don't Erode the Goal of Goodness."

With such profound applicability, this book is the handbook for living. Everyone on the planet should read it.

I first learned and practiced systems analysis back in the 1970s, and it's a skill that seems neglected in the training of many young professionals I come in contact with.

"Thinking in Systems: A Primer" is a book I hoped would be informative and accessible for people who need to develop the skill or just refresh their own talents. It does present its subject systematically and without confusing jargon.

While I found the writing clear and well-organized in its development and presentation of the subject, I found many of the illustrations less than helpful. I would have liked a less holistic and more concrete development of the analysis of the examples in the book.

For use as a textbook, an appendix with a glossary of terms of art and sybols would be very helpful. Nonetheless, reading this will give the novice an appreciation of what systems analysis is, and why it is critical to problem solving. Its informal approach may be more suited for young people today than a more formal and rigidly structured treatment.

In her "Note from the Editor," Diana Wright advises the reader that the manuscript for "Thinking in Systems" went unpublished for eight years before Dana Meadows' unfortunate death. Perhaps there was a reason for that: perhaps Dana Meadows recognized that the manuscript was not ready for publication. For the text is uncertain whether it is an introduction to systems analysis as a scientific endeavor, a tableau of counter-intuitive results "explained" by "systems thinking", or a pseudo-analytic basis for the usual policy preferences of the political left. In its raw form, it is a mish-mash of these and other incomplete themes, so by the end you're not sure what the point was.

Were it an introductory text in systems analysis for freshman students of English literature, the first four chapters might be ok. Meadows introduces the notions of stocks, inputs, and outputs in a way that could persuade a non-technical reader that systems analysis was a quantitative science and that the relevant quantities might be computed so long as students from another department were available. She also introduces the notion of feedback and discusses the qualitatively different forms of output resulting from positive or negative feedback. She even discusses the effects on the output of varying feedback delay. This may be about as far as you can go without introducing any math, and as Meadows did not introduce any math, this also might have been a good place to stop.

But sadly, the editors chose to publish what came next. Next was chapter 5, "Systems Traps...and Opportunities." Here we find discussions of a variety of very complicated systems--Romanian and Swedish abortion policy, for example--whose analysis is beyond most humans, let alone freshman literature students. From these discussions Meadows derives generalized "systems traps" and "ways out".

Her first trap, for example, is called "policy resistance": "When various actors try to pull a system stock toward various goals, ...[it] just pulls the stock farther from the goals of the other actors and produces additional resistance...." Translation: people disagree. And here's the "way out": "Let go. Bring in all the actors and use the energy formerly expended on resistance to seek out mutually satisfactory ways for all goals to be realized...." Translation: can't we all just get along. And so on. The "traps" and "ways out" are of a nature so obtuse as to defy any sort of concrete analysis, and as insights they are the sort that cease to seem profound after sophomore year.

And it gets worse. Chapter 6, "Leverage Points--Places to Intervene in a System," might have been a good place to discuss system sensitivity analysis--in a qualitative way, of course--but instead it leans heavily toward the justification of pet liberal causes like environmentalism, government regulation of industry ("The power of big industry calls for the power of big government...; a global economy makes global regulations necessary"), and high taxes on anyone with more wealth than a Dartmouth professor. Chapter 7, "Living in a World of Systems," sets new standards for sentimental whole-earthism, recommending, on the strength of "the tool of systems thinking," that the future be "brought lovingly into being," that we learn to "dance with great powers" as the Eskimo "have turned snow into ... a system with which they can dance." Be caring, be good: these are the final admonishments before the book, thankfully, ends.

In addition, there is economic illiteracy displayed throughout, as for example this, which follows an inept discussion of Adam Smith's "invisible hand": "Economic theory as derived from Adam Smith assumes first that 'homo economicus' acts with perfect optimality on complete information, and second that when many of the species 'homo economicus' do that, their actions add up to the best possible outcome for everybody." This is utter nonsense. Smith says nothing about perfection of optimality nor completeness of information. He merely observes that, in the aggregate, a collection of humans seeking their individual interests often advances the economic welfare of society as a whole. And he certainly does not assert that everybody will arrive at "the best possible outcome." The "invisible hand" operates even in the presence of individual failure and distress, and in some ways because of them.

Winding up for the conclusion, Meadows admits that "[s]ystems thinking has taught me to trust my intuition more and my figuring-out rationality less...." If you've gotten this far in the book, you will certainly agree, for in writing it she gave intuition free rein while rationality was on the Costa del Sol. If you're a student of Dana Meadows, this book will give you considerable insight into her intuition and her prejudices. If you are simply interested in some qualitative discussion of systems, there are some not-bad introductory bits in the first four chapters. But if you're going to buy just one book on systems analysis, buy a different one.

Length:: 1:02 Mins

Incredibly easy to understand, comprehensive summary of systems theory. The world looks very different after reading this book, and can help anyone who is looking to create or change systems.

Dana Meadows was the possessor of a profound and influential mind, and as one of the authors of The Limits to Growth pioneered the systems approach to problem-solving. This book outlines and describes and gives examples of how to examine and diagnose and understand systems. A system is an intricately connected set of things, processes, influences, people, etc. Pretty much every problem that's important to solve involves a system of some kind, and many solutions that attack one prominent and visible feature of a system fail because of the effects of the rest of the system.

Perhaps this seems obvious, at least now, but there is much to learn from Ms. Meadows book (edited by a friend after her death). The examples are well-chosen and range widely enough that there will be at least one you (or the coworker, boss, board member, or other person you want to influence) will understand and be affected by.

And, yes, the writing is clear and attractive. If you're interested in these complex issues, read the book. And pass it to anyone you know who is about to enter the working world. We need more systems thinkers.

I agree with many of the reviews that this book was very hard to get into. The writing is rather dry and I couldn't really get into the diagrams. I was required to read this book for a class and I really struggled to get interested (which is why I started looking for reviews/summaries in the first place!). I also agree with some of the reviews that many of the points she makes seem pretty obvious.

However, the further I got into the book, the more interested I became. She has excellent real-life examples that I honestly wasn't expecting based on the start of the book. Though I thought some of the beginning portions were obvious I appreciated the simple to complex build up. I don't think I would have enjoyed/understood the ending as much had I skimmed the beginning. I had a hard time putting it down during the last few chapters and an even harder time not regaling my friends with her insights when I finished! Also, important to note that this book is Thinking in Systems: A PRIMER. So in reality, readers should be expecting some "obvious" points.

Overall, I STRONGLY recommend this book. I would give it 5 stars, except that it is so hard to get into. BUT TRY, I promise it's worth it!

I've read other books on systems and systems thinking. None of them had the humanity of this one. None of them took so much deliberate effort to include us in our own systems. That might seem obvious, but if it is, why hasn't it been so evident before? This is neither a long book nor a difficult book. Neither of those traits make it any less valuable, or enjoyable. I'm going to read it again, and recommend it some more.

If there is one thing that the reader will gather from reading this eloquent and engaging study, it is that there are no easy ways to fix problems. Systems are complex things, and pushing one button here may produce the intended outcome, but it might very well produce a side effect that is worse than the original condition.

This idea is best described by the author, as she says, "it is almost irresistible to blame something or someone else, to shift responsibility away from ourselves, and to look for the control knob, the product, the pill, the technical fix that will make a problem go away." But doing one thing will require a shift in resources or an overflow of stock that might end up hurting more than it helps.

Thinking in Systems uses this central idea to show the difficulties in solving our political and economic problems. With such a lucid, objective framework, it is only logical that the author takes an objective view of the subject matter. For the most part, she does not blame everything on one party or the other and seems rather even-handed in her criticism of both major parties.

The book is most convincing in the realm of ecology, especially with regard to growth, which she rightly points out is a faulty goal in itself, and should be reconsidered from a systems perspective (i.e., with all the consequences in view).

The libertarian might object to her conclusion that at least some major government intervention is necessary in order to prevent inefficiency and widespread hardship. As she puts it, "Some systems really need an intervenor!" When she implies that Ronald Reagan's anti-government stance was a reaction to corporate power, her biases are revealed. Hers is a line of thought that says that anyone who goes against government must be in collusion with corporations, and that anyone in collusion with corporations must be against the environment, personal freedom, etc.

But the author even said that there are traps involved with government intervention. It is to forget that the government is the biggest corporation out there, and that system changes made by it can have more devastating side effects than anything done in the private sector.

Ultimately, these biases don't injure the excellent treatment the author offers on the subject matter as a whole. And, as a result, this book comes highly recommended for anyone interested in systems, economics, or politics.

In the middle of the book, Donella outlines the 12 most strategic intervention points within a system. Her number one, most strategic intervention point is in transcending paradigms. That's what this book fosters -- transcending paradigms.

Become a meta thinker, look at the systemic whole before becoming entranced and consumed by the minuscule details. If zen could be put into scientific models, I see it taking a form very similar to this book. Systems thinking is a zen level of thinking, beyond our egoic tendencies and habits -- finding where information or resources flow from, end up, what feedback loops are perpetuating or limiting the system. We are ourselves very complex systems, embedded within millions of systems. This book is a wonderful introduction to systems thinking, and will benefit all who pick it up.

As a whole-systems designer, this reading has had huge implications on my professional and personal works. Step back, take a deep breath, observe before interpreting, see the system flow. That's HUGE, no matter where you live, work, play, this writing will add new dimensions to your mental models. One may find themselves instead of observing isolated events or objects, seeing the many influences, interconnections and feedback loops that create and give life to observed reality.