Systems Thinkers - Softcover

Ramage, Magnus; Shipp, Karen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848825242 ISBN 13: 9781848825246

Publisher: Springer, 2009

Synopsis

This biographical history of the field of systems thinking examines the work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses their key contributions to the subject, the way these were expressed in practice and the relationship between their lives and ideas.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Systems Thinkers presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker’s key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker’s own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.

Systems thinking is necessarily interdisciplinary, so that the thinkers selected come from a wide range of areas – biology, management, physiology, anthropology, chemistry, public policy, sociology and environmental studies among others. Some are core innovators in systems ideas; some have been primarily practitioners who also advanced and popularised systems ideas; others are well-known figures who drew heavily upon systems thinking although it was not their primary discipline. A significant aim of the book is to broaden and deepen the reader’s interest in systems writers, providing an appetising ‘taster’ for each of the 30 thinkers, so that the reader is encouraged to go on to study the published works of the thinkers themselves.

Review:

From the reviews: “Ramage and Shipp wrote this book as a textbook for a course in the UK’s Open University. ... This work examines 30 major figures from all disciplines. The authors describe each figure in terms of how their work fits the ‘systems thinking’ pattern ... . This book is suitable for its stated purpose as a resource tool for a course in a specialized academic discipline. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and faculty.” (C. G. Wood, Choice, Vol. 47 (9), May, 2010)

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1848825242
• ISBN 13: 9781848825246
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 326