This introduction to systems science, also known as complexity science, awakens new perceptions and illuminates a universal way to observe and interact with everything. The science of atoms, stars, and ecosystems, of politics, economics, and technology, and of the Golden Rule, the Middle Way, and karma describes how all is using energy and information to organize into networks within networks, cycling and syncing, evolving and emerging.

Seeing, the first field guide to these patterns and processes, offers a world alive with change and possibility for ourselves, families, communities, technologies, and environment.

Systems theorist and researcher Lynn Rasmussen distills the work of hundreds of systems scientists, complexity theorists, and systems thinkers  to illustrate how a foundational understanding of Nature's patterns and processes can illuminate and guide our capacity to evolve ourselves and our world.

Written simply and clearly, using 157 images, graphics, and tables, Seeing appeals to both novices and experienced theorists and practitioners.

Order at your local bookstore, bookshop.org, B&N, Apple Books, and more.

  • “This book is going to be one of those that changes the way you see literally everything. Lynn paints a rich picture for appreciating the interconnected patterns inherent in the universe that everyone can learn from and enjoy.”

    Gary Robert Smith – President (2024/2025) International Society for System Sciences

  • Systems of systems processes are the core understanding needed to construct and run healthy systems (families, organizations, governments, economies, you name it). Rasmussen provides a solid basic guide to understanding these processes and their interrelationships. This book is an essential starting point for anyone interested in grasping how healthy systems work.

    George Mobus, PhD, coauthor of Principles of Systems Science and author of Systems Science: Theory, Analysis, Modeling, and Design

  • “A fascinating vision of the world as a kaleidoscope of patterns on the smallest and largest scales. . .admirably lucid, straightforward, and intuitively appealing. . .a fine introduction for lay readers to systems theory that reveals its fertile insights in many ingenious guises.” “✔️GET IT!”

    Kirkus Reviews

  • This is great work - a huge achievement to distill the complexity of Len Troncale's System Process Theory into an accessible and really useful essence. Full of transdisciplinary synergies and insights. Every page made me think!

    Hillary Sillitto, co-author of Scotland 2070 and author of Architecting Systems

  • “Seeing is an elegantly composed introduction to systems science. The simplicity in describing complexity is comprehensive and well presented. A great contribution toward the goal of systems science literacy for all!”

    Peter D. Tuddenham, co-founder, The College of Exploration and the Systems Literacy project

  • “This is a compilation that has been sorely needed in the systems field. Lynn Rasmussen has done a remarkable job of illuminating critical concepts in a way that makes them easily and clearly understood.”

    Debora Hammond, PhD, author of The Science of Synthesis

  • “This is the book we’ve all been waiting for! A brilliant, accessible, yet in-depth and rigorously written coverage of systems science and its principal processes and patterns. (For anyone who wants to) learn the glorious commonality of all systems and how they work and behave. A+ for this book!”

    Stephen Mastro, PhD, systems engineer, adjunct faculty in Engineering Leadership and Society at Drexel University’s College of Engineering

  • “…the story in this book is timely, an important contrast to—and a remedy for—much of what is happening in the world…. for those who want to understand more about systems science and those who want a fresh perspective on solving the challenging problems we face individually and collectively.”

    Duane Hybertson, PhD, author of Model-Oriented Systems Engineering Science: A Unifying Framework for Traditional and Complex Systems

  • “If you’d like to see beyond the boundaries between different branches of science, this book is for you. In fact, it’s like a Rosetta Stone.”

    Harriet Witt, science educator and stargazer

  • “Seeing has forged a new and needed niche in the ecosystem of books for the general public about systems thinking, theory, and practice.”

    Tyler Volk, author of Metapatterns and From Quarks to Culture

  • "'Seeing' reminds reflective systems thinkers to appreciate the breadth and connections of concepts rooted in science. Lynn Rasmussen provides a gentle invitation into not only the Systems Processes Theory that represents the life work of Len Troncale, but also emerging and contemporary views in the sciences of systems. Novices will benefit from clear explanations. Experts will appreciate recognition of ongoing controversies that reflect the continuing progress in the science.

    David Ing, research fellow at the Creative Systemic Research Platform Institute, and trustee for the International Society for the Systems Sciences

Book Description

Welcome to a science for this century. This introduction to systems science, also known as complexity science begins with: “Everything—from an atom to a cell to the Universe—is made up of the same patterns. Understand how these patterns organize Nature’s systems, and you can better and more creatively organize your thinking and reasoning and the systems in which you live.”

Seeing is a reference book, much like a field guide to birds. The first chapter provides a brief overview of the emerging science of systems, also known as complexity science, and describes the limitations of English for expressing this worldview. Using 157 images, graphics, and tables, the next 19 chapters of Seeing describe 19 “systems processes”–networks, feedback, cycle, hierarchy, flows, evolution, and more–using definitions from the literature; the field guide’s definition; what they’re also called in the different sciences and in life; examples from Nature, human life, and techology; their features and functions; how they can be modeled; and how they interact with other systems processes. The next three chapters define more deeply what a systems process is, what a system is, and a brief overview of systems science. The final four chapters provide examples of how systems processes can be applied to Nature, consciousness, and culture.

Book Details

Seeing: A Field Guide to the Patterns and Processes of Nature, Culture, and Consciousness

by Lynn Rasmussen

Publication date: September 4, 2024

Published by The Maui Institute LLC

Distributed by Ingram. Available on Amazon and other booksites.

Edited by Marie Timell

Cover and book design by Sheila Parr

5.5” x 8.5” softcover; 340 pages; 157 images, graphics, and tables

ISBN: 979-8-9901987-0-8 (paperback)

ISBN: 979-8-9001987-1-5 (epub)

LCCN: 2024913193

Subjects (Ingram): 1. SCIENCE/Systems Theory 2. SCIENCE/Chaotic Behavior in Systems 3. BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT/General

Categories (Amazon): 1. Books › Science & Math › Physics › System Theory 2. Books › Science & Math › Nature & Ecology › Reference 3. Books › Politics & Social Sciences › Philosophy › Consciousness & Thought

Contact by email: Lynn at MauiInstitute.org

Meet Lynn Rasmussen

Lynn Rasmussen’s fascination with systems science led her to 25 years of extensive research and ongoing conversations with many of today’s cutting-edge systems theorists. Educated in public health and psychology, she has applied a systemic worldview to coaching highly creative people, nonprofit and business development, and personal relationships. Lynn co-founded the Maui Institute to apply systems science to observations, ideas, and actions on her island home and in the world.  Learn more at MauiInstitute.org and on Substack at mauiinstitute.substack.com.