thinking-in-systems
According to online reviewers, the best aspect of "Thinking in Systems" is its ability to simplify complex concepts and provide practical tools for understanding systems thinking. Readers appreciate the clarity and accessibility of the author's explanations. On the other hand, some reviewers note that the book can be overly theoretical at times, and they wish for more concrete examples and applications to real-world scenarios.
Kindle Highlights: Thinking in Systems: International Bestseller
Highlights
I don’t think the systems way of seeing is better than the reductionist way of thinking. I think it’s complementary, and therefore revealing. You can see some things through the lens of the human eye, other things through the lens of a microscope, others through the lens of a telescope, and still others through the lens of systems theory. Everything seen through each kind of lens is actually there. Each way of seeing allows our knowledge of the wondrous world in which we live to become a little more complete. — location: 260 ^ref-29027
An important function of almost every system is to ensure its own perpetuation. System purposes need not be human purposes and are not necessarily those intended by any single actor within the system. In fact, one of the most frustrating aspects of systems is that the purposes of subunits may add up to an overall behavior that no one wants. — location: 374 ^ref-12668
Keeping sub-purposes and overall system purposes in harmony is an essential function of successful systems. — location: 389 ^ref-9755
A system generally goes on being itself, changing only slowly if at all, even with complete substitutions of its elements—as long as its interconnections and purposes remain intact. — location: 397 ^ref-52638
The least obvious part of the system, its function or purpose, is often the most crucial determinant of the system’s behavior. — location: 399 ^ref-38561
if you see a behavior that persists over time, there is likely a mechanism creating that consistent behavior. That mechanism operates through a feedback loop. — location: 552 ^ref-12715
Balancing feedback loops are goal-seeking or stability-seeking. Each tries to keep a stock at a given value or within a range of values. — location: 603 ^ref-7021
flow can’t react instantly to a flow. It can react only to a change in a stock, and only after a slight delay to register the incoming information. — location: 778 ^ref-37587
there are questions you need to ask that will help you decide how good a representation of reality is the underlying model. Are the driving factors likely to unfold this way? (What are birth rate and death rate likely to do?) If they did, would the system react this way? (Do birth and death rates really cause the population stock to behave as we think it will?) What is driving the driving factors? — location: 865 ^ref-59761
difference comes because of the difference between stocks and flows. — location: 1246 ^ref-54369
Resilience arises from a rich structure of many feedback loops that can work in different ways to restore a system even after a large perturbation. A single balancing loop brings a system stock back to its desired state. Resilience is provided by several such loops, operating through different mechanisms, at different time scales, and with redundancy—one kicking in if another one — location: 1277 ^ref-65142