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The Fifth Discipline
	It should come as no surprise to many of you that I'm a fan of Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline, the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. The book's title refers to the discipline of systems thinking, which, in this age of networks, is more important than ever. Posted: 2/19/04; 5:37:06 PM #

General System Theory

The original defining book on system theory is General System Theory by Ludwig von Bertalanffy. I come back to this book every few years, because it teaches me to see patterns in my work that I would otherwise miss. It also consistently gives me some tools to help assess the various proposals that I'm asked to evaluate, many of which appear to be founded on wishful thinking, rather than a sound understanding of how human systems grow and change. Posted: 2/19/04; 5:36:57 PM #