General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications,   ISBN:9780807604533

Customer Rating: 

I've looked high and low for a text summarizing systems theory and I write this review in near shock having just finished this book. I say "shock" because I just can't believe how remarkably undated this book is after nearly 40 years (first edition 1969). I've read books by Checkland, Lazlo, Weinberg and many others but nothing summarizes the systems world view better than this classic. You've gotta love a scientist/philosopher who quotes Aldous Huxley liberally. I'd give it six stars if I could.

Customer Rating: 

The best view, writed on general system theory, selected and edited to show the evolution of systems theory and to present its applications to problem solving. Recommended on such widely diverse disciplines as biology, economics, psychology, and demography.

Customer Rating: 

This book is good to someone who wants to think about systems. However, is not the book aim to give details about the system definition. For example, is hard to see definitions of open system, feedback, components, inputs, outputs. The reason for that is the historical moment of the book.

It is a good book. Anyone who thinks about system should own this book.

Customer Rating: 

Although he wrote a lot about the general theory of systems,
I think it is his approach to the problems of how living systems
interact with their environment in a catabolic manner
that makes him really important.
He has had impact from fields like biology to
fluid dynamics.
He set a standard for how we think about history
and with Lewis F. Richardson The Collected Papers of Lewis Fry Richardson (Collected Papers of Lewis Fry Richardson, Vol 2)and Isaac AsimovThe Foundation Trilogy
made a science possible.

Customer Rating: 

Bertalanffy is one of the best educated men and deepest thinkers ever. General Systems Theory is a monument to his greatness. Keep a dictionary handy, and brush up on your Latin. This is the top of the intellectual mountain, where men no longer tread.