This week Carter and Nathan read Donella Meadows’ Thinking in Systems. A foundational primer on systems thinking, the book explores how stocks, flows, feedback loops, and leverage points shape everything from ecosystems to organizations. Join them as they discuss how systems thinking applies to software engineering, the hidden structures behind burnout and tech debt, and how to make high-leverage changes in complex systems.
-- Books Mentioned in this Episode --
Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
https://amzn.to/4cMB35k (paid link)
Tidy First?: A Personal Exercise in Empirical Software Design by Kent Beck
https://amzn.to/3RoB9pR (paid link)
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler
https://amzn.to/43Wqk5Q (paid link)
Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach by Mark Richards and Neal Ford
https://amzn.to/3Y7CNjk (paid link)
One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol. 1: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein by Whitney Alyse Webb
https://amzn.to/3RsMt4f (paid link)
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
https://amzn.to/3EH8MAe (paid link)
The Software Engineer's Guidebook: Navigating Senior, Tech Lead, and Staff Engineer Positions at Tech Companies and Startups by Gergely Orosz
https://amzn.to/3ExwPSa (paid link)
What Is ChatGPT Doing ... and Why Does It Work? by Stephen Wolfram
https://amzn.to/4iuSUim (paid link)
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00:00 Intro
01:41 About the Book
03:43 Thoughts on the Book
08:07 Covering the Foundations and Defining Terms
16:36 Feedback loops
22:31 Overconfidence and why models lead us astray.
35:56 Paradigms and Framing
49:30 Leverage Points
01:02:04 Final Thoughts
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kj6DLCEWR5nHShlSYJI5L
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-overflow/id1745257325
X: https://x.com/bookoverflowpod
Carter on X: https://x.com/cartermorgan
Nathan's Functionally Imperative: www.functionallyimperative.com
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Book Overflow is a podcast for software engineers, by software engineers dedicated to improving our craft by reading the best technical books in the world. Join Carter Morgan and Nathan Toups as they read and discuss a new technical book each week!
The full book schedule and links to every major podcast player can be found at https://www.bookoverflow.io
