Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
Published 2008 · 256 pages · 55,000 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Business & Self-Help, Nonfiction, Science & Nature
How hard is Thinking in Systems to read?
Thinking in Systems scores 31 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 30 out of 100
- Systems terminology clearly defined. Accessible to beginners.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Abstraction: 50 out of 100
- Systems thinking requires seeing abstract patterns in concrete situations.
- Information density: 50 out of 100
- Dense with concepts, each built on previous ones. Systematic progression.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Direct instruction with clear examples.
- Symbolic density: 15 out of 100
- System diagrams serve as visual representations. Otherwise analytical.
- Ironic distance: 100 out of 100
- Earnest, didactic tone throughout.
- Resolution withholding: 50 out of 100
- Each concept is clearly explained and resolved.
- Structural complexity: 25 out of 100
- Primer structure building from simple to complex. Well-organized.
How Thinking in Systems is regarded
Thinking in Systems holds a literary regard score of 51 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.