New Books Network
Systems and Cybernetics
Mathematics January 17, 2022

Bits and Bugs

A Scientific and Historical Review of Software Failures in Computational Science

Thomas Huckle and Tobias Neckel

Hosted by Cory Brunson
A true understanding of the pervasive role of software in the world demands an awareness of the volume and variety of real-world software failures and their consequences. No more thorough …

Systems and Cybernetics

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Interviews with scholars of systems and cybernetics about their new books.

Systems and Cybernetics December 14, 2021

The Web of Meaning

Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find our Place in the Universe

Jeremy Lent

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
In this episode of Systems and Cybernetics I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jeremy Lent, talking with him about his newest book The Web of Meaning: Integrating …
Environmental Studies November 22, 2021

Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, 5-Volume Set

Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and John Hausdoerffer

Hosted by Brady McCartney
From The Center for Humans and Nature, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations is a five-volume collection of essays, interviews, poetry, and stories of solidarity that highlight the interdependence …
Systems and Cybernetics November 19, 2021

Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking

The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation

Josep M. Coll

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
I recently sat down with Josep M. Coll to discuss his new book Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking: The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation (Routledge, 2021). This book is the latest …
Systems and Cybernetics November 3, 2021

Cybernetics for the Social Sciences

Bernard Scott

Hosted by Tom Scholte
On this episode, I have the great pleasure of finally getting to talk with one of the “unsung heroes” of cybernetics, whose work has finally begun to receive the critical …
Economics October 6, 2021

Discovering Prices

Auction Design in Markets with Complex Constraints

Paul Milgrom

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Neoclassical economic theory shows that under the right conditions, prices alone can guide markets to efficient outcomes. But what if it it’s hard to find the right price? In many …
Economics October 5, 2021

Who Gets What -- and Why

The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design

Alvin E. Roth

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
In Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Mariner Books, 2015), Nobel Memorial Prize Winner Alvin Roth explains his pioneering work in the …
Systems and Cybernetics September 27, 2021

Stafford Beer

The Father of Management Cybernetics

Vanilla Beer and Allenna Leonard

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
In this episode I am in conversation with artist and author Vanilla Beer about her 2019 book Stafford Beer: The Father of Management Cybernetics. While he got his start in …
Systems and Cybernetics September 17, 2021

Gaian Systems

Lynn Margulis, Neocybernetics, and the End of the Anthropocene

Bruce Clarke

Hosted by Tom Scholte
Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis …
Systems and Cybernetics September 1, 2021

Systems Thinkers

Magnus Ramage and Karen Shipp

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
In this episode I spoke with Magnus Ramage, co-author of Systems Thinkers (Springer, 2020). This second edition provides an update to Ramage’s and co-author Karen Shipp’s earlier exploration, and presents an enlightening—often …
Systems and Cybernetics August 17, 2021

Immersive Systemic Knowing

Advancing Systems Thinking Beyond Rational Analysis

Raghav Rajagopalan

Hosted by Tom Scholte
On this episode, we speak with Ragav Rajagopalan about his book, Immersive Systemic Knowing: Advancing Systems Thinking Beyond Rational Analysis, out from Springer in 2020. This fascinating book advances systems …
Mathematics July 30, 2021

What Is a Complex System?

James Ladyman and K. Wiesner

Hosted by Cory Brunson
While i find it pretty easy to recognize when i'm reading articles in complexity science, i've never been satisfied by definitions of complexity and related concepts. I'm not alone! Researchers' …
Systems and Cybernetics July 27, 2021

Systems Approaches to Making Change: A Practical Guide

Martin Reynolds and Sue Holwell

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
Practitioners from all professional domains are increasingly confronted with incidences of systemic failure, yet poorly equipped with appropriate tools and know-how for understanding such failure, and the making of systemic …
Systems and Cybernetics July 8, 2021

The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory

Living Control Systems IV

Warren Mansell

Hosted by Tom Scholte
Regular listeners to this podcast will be well aware of my strong conviction that the Perceptual Control Theory initially formulated by William T. Powers entails many significant contributions to the …
Systems and Cybernetics June 17, 2021

Sand Talk

How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

Tyson Yunkaporta

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
Although it is not described as such anywhere in the book, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (HarperOne, 2021) is indeed a systems-thinking book—one that offers a much-needed fresh …
Systems and Cybernetics May 11, 2021

Cybernetic-Existentialism

Freedom, Systems, and Being-for-Others in Contemporary Arts and Performance

Steve Dixon

Hosted by Tom Scholte
Like the transdiscipline of cybernetics, the philosophical movement known as Existentialism rose to prominence in the decade following World War II, was communicated to the general public by a handful …
Economics April 19, 2021

The Human Network

How Your Social Position Determines Your Power, Beliefs, and Behaviors

Matthew O. Jackson

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Social networks existed and shaped our lives long before Silicon Valley startups made them virtual. For over two decades economist Matthew O. Jackson, a professor at Stanford University, has studied how …
Systems and Cybernetics March 22, 2021

Managing Creativity

A Systems Thinking Journey

José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
For over a century, creativity has unfolded as a valuable field of knowledge. Emerging from disciplines like psychology, management and education, the field of creativity is making strides in others …
Systems and Cybernetics February 8, 2021

The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking

Governance in a Climate Emergency

Ray Ison and Ed Straw

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking: Governance in Climate Emergency (Routledge, 2020) is a persuasive, lively book that shows how systems thinking can be harnessed to effect profound, complex change.  …
Systems and Cybernetics January 18, 2021

Network Origins of the Global Economy

East vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective

Hilton L. Root

Hosted by Tom Scholte
Twenty-eight years after Francis Fukuyama declared the “end of history” and pronounced Western-style liberalism as the culmination of a Hegelian narrative of progress, pundits and academics of all stripes find …