The Art of Systems Thinking: Essential Skills for Creativity and Problem Solving

Rating:
Summary: Good read but kind of light
Review: "Art" of Systems Thinking was an illuminating book about the abstract concept of systems, and applying it to different practical instances. Overall it was interesting, but I expected it to be more mathematical and rigorous, instead of being more psychology based.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to system thinking - but read the title
Review: I think the title of the book sums it up.
For the word Art: read ART. Expect broad brush stokes about concepts, lots of story telling. Ideas, big picture stuff. Great framework for stimulating thought, getting a feel for the ideas and going on to explore them. You may be disappointed if you expect rigorous maths or science or much detail about the mechanics of system dynamics.
Essential skills - expect broad real life applications for the ideas, lots of questions to challenge and update your mental models Maybe don't expect to be able to map the ecosystem in your front garden or solve world hunger (yet)
Creativity and Problem solving - the emphasis here is on applying systems thinking as a skill. The tone is very much 'thinking about thinking'. That is 'what mental model do I hold about thinking'. How does the model of reality I am creating in my head effect the system. Does the reality create my thinking or my thinking create reality (or is this a loop?)
If all of this system's stuff has anything to offer, then the application of its own thinking would suggest more people need to have these thinking skills at their disposal. Hope to see a pop up/colouring in/video game version soon.

Rating:
Summary: poorly designed book: not adequate for its' subject
Review: It's hard to know what to say. There wasn't enough juice to this book that it kept my interest. The writing style is dull and pedantic, the examples are trivial, the illustrations useless. There is something fundamentally wrong with this entire genre of *thinking skills* books. The authors usually show little ability to relate complex, real world problem solving to higher models or theories. It appears that there are two classes of writer: those with much practical experience and good war stories who rely on instinct and intuition, and those who read like they have been up in their ivory towers and do nothing but trade academic papers back and forth. For some reason the two never meet so we are forced to choose between guys who don't know how to translate the thought processes behind their actions into words OR guys who have no idea of how they could bridge their concepts into profitable, concrete action. This book, regrettably, falls squarely into the second category of think-a-mush. Completely uninspiring. Typical of books that are forced on unfortunate college students. Save your money for something better, whatever that might be.