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Thinking in Systems: A Primer

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows (list price: $19.95; 2008 Sustainability Institute). Donella Meadows is a genius. Rather, she was a genius; she passed away before this little gem of a book was published. I didn't know her or her work personally, so it is probably more conservative to only comment on this one little book --- which I thought was brilliant. Meadows delivers exactly what she promised: a primer on systems thinking. She digs deep enough and provides wide enough coverage to provide a strong grounding in the topic with a style that should be understandable for most readers. Where it is important, Meadows provides an adequate treatment of the nuts and bolts in a non-technical and enjoyable to read narration. Although hardcore systems modelers and programmers might find this primer simplistic, I found the simple explanations, integrated delivery, and concise package beautiful. I've read through some of the highly technical volumes about systems