This book has been distilled out of the wisdom of thirty years of systems modeling and teaching carried out by dozens of creative people, most of them originally based at or influenced by the MIT System Dynamics group. Foremost among them is Jay Forrester, the founder of the group. My particular teachers (and students who have become my teachers) have been, in addition to Jay: Ed Roberts, Jack Pugh, Dennis Meadows, Hartmut Bossel, Barry Richmond, Peter Senge, John Sterman, and Peter Allen, but I have drawn here from the language, ideas, examples, quotes, books, and lore of a large intellectual community. I express my admiration and gratitude to all its members.
这本书是从三十年的智慧中提炼出来的系统建模和教学进行了几十个创造性的人，他们中的大多数最初基于或影响的麻省理工学院系统动力学小组。其中最重要的是 Jay Forrester，这个小组的创始人。除了 Jay: Ed Roberts，Jack Pugh，Dennis Meadows，Hartmut Bossel，Barry Richmond，Peter Senge，John Sterman 和 Peter Allen 之外，我特别的老师(以及成为我老师的学生们)都曾是我的老师，但是我在这里从一个大型知识社区的语言、想法、例子、语录、书籍和传说中汲取了经验。我向其所有成员表达我的钦佩和感激之情。
I also have drawn from thinkers in a variety of disciplines, who, as far as I know, never used a computer to simulate a system, but who are natural systems thinkers. They include Gregory Bateson, Kenneth Boulding, Herman Daly, Albert Einstein, Garrett Hardin, Václav Havel, Lewis Mumford, Gunnar Myrdal, E.F. Schumacher, a number of modern corporate executives, and many anonymous sources of ancient wisdom, from Native Americans to the Sufis of the Middle East. Strange bedfellows, but systems thinking transcends disciplines and cultures and, when it is done right, it overarches history as well.
我还从不同学科的思想家中吸取了经验，据我所知，他们从未使用计算机来模拟系统，但他们是自然系统思想家。他们包括格雷戈里 · 贝特森，肯尼思 · 博尔丁，赫尔曼 · 戴利，阿尔伯特 · 爱因斯坦，加勒特 · 哈丁，瓦茨拉夫 · 哈维尔，刘易斯 · 芒福德，贡纳 · 米尔达尔，e.f · 舒马赫，许多现代企业高管，以及许多古代智慧的匿名来源，从美洲原住民到中东的苏菲派。怪异同床人，但系统思维超越了学科和文化，如果做得对，它也覆盖了历史。
Having spoken of transcendence, I need to acknowledge factionalism as well. Systems analysts use overarching concepts, but they have entirely human personalities, which means that they have formed many fractious schools of systems thought. I have used the language and symbols of system dynamics here, the school in which I was taught. And I present only the core of systems theory here, not the leading edge. I don’t deal with the most abstract theories and am interested in analysis only when I can see how it helps solve real problems. When the abstract end of systems theory does that, which I believe it will some day, another book will have to be written.
说到超越，我也需要承认派系主义。系统分析师使用总体概念，但他们拥有完全的人类个性，这意味着他们形成了许多难以驾驭的系统思维学派。我在这里使用了系统动力学的语言和符号，我就是在这所学校学习的。我在这里只展示了系统理论的核心，而不是前沿。我不处理最抽象的理论，只对分析感兴趣，当我看到它如何帮助解决实际问题时。当系统理论的抽象结束做到这一点的时候，我相信有一天它会做到的，另一本书将不得不写。
Therefore, you should be warned that this book, like all books, is biased and incomplete. There is much, much more to systems thinking than is presented here, for you to discover if you are interested. One of my purposes is to make you interested. Another of my purposes, the main one, is to give you a basic ability to understand and to deal with complex systems, even if your formal systems training begins and ends with this book.
因此，你应该被警告，这本书，像所有的书一样，是有偏见的和不完整的。关于系统思考，除了这里介绍的内容之外，还有很多很多内容等着你去发现自己是否感兴趣。我的目的之一就是让你感兴趣。我的另一个目的，主要的目的，是给你一个基本的能力，以理解和处理复杂的系统，即使您的正式系统培训开始和结束于这本书。
—DONELLA MEADOWS, 1993
Donella MEADOWS，1993