Though systems science is very intuitive, it’s a bit tricky and challenging to grasp initially. However, with the right reading and practice to think cohesively, mastering the art is not a big deal. Here are some books which help us understand Systems Science intuitively.

• Thinking in Systems - A Primer - by Donella Meadows is an extremely easy-to-read yet powerful book that will help you understand concepts in depth, keeping the mathematical intricacies at bay. As the name suggests, it’s a primer, it doesn’t make you an expert in systems theory, but it still equips you with sufficient knowledge and tools to understand and use the theory to comprehend and draw conclusions about events happening around you.

• The Fifth Discipline - by Peter Senge, is one of the best management works in the last 75 years, and numerous students, instructors, businesses, and government have learned from it and implemented things in real life. It’s longer and explores the intersections of systems science and management, but it is a must-read for people who want to explore this highly interdisciplinary field.

• After you are done with these, you can get over and read up on Jay Forrester’s and John Sterman’s works, for instance, Business Dynamics: Modeling for a Complex World or the classic Urban Dynamics. If you are a student at IIT Bombay, you can take up the courses AE759: Fundamentals of Systems Engineering and IE604/CS752 System Dynamics Modeling and Simulation.

• If you are interested in exploring this field further, head on to Vensim, which is a software used in System Dynamics simulations. They have ample tutorials which slowly build up from the basics to complex models. If you want to explore Systems Engineering from a software point of view - you can check out - Capella, a software designed for automating Model-based Systems Engineering processes.