Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Thinking in Systems cover art

Thinking in Systems

By: Donella H. Meadows
Narrated by: Tia Rider Sorensen
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Systems Thinking for Social Change cover art
Complexity cover art
The Fifth Discipline cover art
Steal the Show cover art
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy cover art
Modern Software Engineering cover art
How to Be a Power Connector cover art
Peak Everything cover art
Change by Design, Revised and Updated cover art
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing cover art
Governing the Commons cover art
The Locust and the Bee cover art
The Staff Engineer's Path cover art
Economics for Real People: An Introduction to the Austrian School cover art
Ruined by Design cover art
The Price of Tomorrow cover art

Summary

In the years following her role as the lead author of the international best seller, Limits to Growth - the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet - Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. 

Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem-solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing listeners how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. 

Some of the biggest problems facing the world - war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation - are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. 

While listeners will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds listeners to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. 

In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps listeners avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©2008 Sustainability Institute (P)2018 Chelsea Green Publishing

What listeners say about Thinking in Systems

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    354
  • 4 Stars
    118
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    289
  • 4 Stars
    102
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    267
  • 4 Stars
    99
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars

Applicable tools and techniques

There are probably two parts to this: The mapping (1/5) then real life applications (4/5.)

I'm a sucker for any models that stand the test of time and have diverse use cases. This book on systems ticks both boxes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking and useful on many levels

genuinely one of the best books I have listened to. has changed the way I view my business and the world at large

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant introduction/reintroduction

Brilliant introduction/reintroduction to systems thinking. very accessable (and well read).
A primer (as in the title) but filled with valuable insights.
I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Powerful Way of Seeing

This book has helped me to see the world on new ways, and has revealed new ways of tackling challenges. I had heard of Systems Thinking through my other studies, but this book has given me a solid grounding in the basics of what it is, how it works, and how it can be used to solve real problems.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

boring and uneducational

pointing out the obvious and milks it in a painfully long boring book. All obvious points, nothing to learn.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not good for audiobook format

I recognize that this book is important and can be life-changing, but explaining the same super simple concept in 10 different ways is not needed, and very boring. I could stand this for a full hour, then it had to stop. I returned the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome book.

Necessary to start understanding the society and also to understand that there will always be a lot that it is not understandable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

insightful and down to earth

easy listen, good for anyone looking to improve thinking models and remind of whats really important

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good but a little basic

Good concepts, but examples used to illustrate the principles are generally too basic - such as how a thermostat works. I think it would be much more effective to use genuinely complex examples, like global warming, transport, population, cancer, etc.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Necessary reading

If everyone read this book, the world would be a better place. Easy to follow, interesting principles, a full introduction that leaves you hungry to use new tools and to learn more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!