WeinbergdistillstheessencefromvonBertalanffy'sclassicandmanagestopresentitinaveryaccessiblefashion.Thebookhasbeenoutofprintforquiteawhilesoitisgreattoseeanewedition.Themessageandinformationcontainedinhere,althoughoriginallypublishedin1975,isnowmorerelevantthanever.Weinbergcoversmanyaspectsofsystemstheorybeginningwiththemainstumblingblockwiththepresentscientificparadigm:theideathattheuniverseismechanistic.HistreatmentismuchmoregeneralthanRobertRosen'sin"LifeItself"butstillconveyswhythemechanisticnotionisflawed.Hethenoutlinesthegeneralsystemstheoryapproachbeforeleadingintotheideathatasystemissimplyawayoflookingattheworld.Hethenoutlinestheprincipleofindifference.Thisleadsstraightintotwosectionsoutliningvariousaspectsofmakingobservations.Finallyhediscussesbehaviourandthensomegeneralsystemsquestions.Throughoutthebookheusesmanyexamplesfromdisparatefieldsinconjunctionwithquestionsforfurtherresearch.Itisgreattoseesomeonewhodoesn'tpreachsystemsbutactuallyusestheideas.Definitelyamust-readaswedecidedhowtosolvethemyriadofissuesbeforeus.
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