Site Tour | Wordview-Expanding Books  | Mapping a few worldview expanding books vs. the REALLY Big Picture's three levels of design  
World-view Expanding Books (2005 List)



A Few Worldview Expanding Books

Mid-Course Correction Ray C. Anderson
The Tao of Democracy Tom Atlee
Biomimicry Janine Benyus
The Answer To How Is Yes Peter Block
The Hidden Connections Fritjof Capra
Finite and Infinite Games James P. Carse
Good To Great Jim Collins
Appreciative Inquiry David Cooperrider, et al.
The Restoration Economy Storm Cunningham
Promise Ahead Duane Elgin
After The Clockwork Universe Sally Goerner
The Last Word on Power Tracy Goss
The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry Sue Annis Hammond
The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken
What Matters Most Jeffrey Hollender, S. Fenichell
Natural Capitalism P. Hawken, A. & L. H. Lovins
Conscious Evolution Barbara Marx Hubbard
The Divine Right of Capital Majorie Kelly
What We Learned in the Rainforest Tachi Kiuchi & Bill Shireman
Who Really Matters Art Kleiner
Living in Balance Joel & Michelle Levey
An Evolutionary Agenda Alan Sasha Lithman
Cradle to Cradle Wm. McDonough & M. Braungart
The Natural Step Story Karl-Henrik Robert
Presence Peter Senge, et al.
The Universe Story Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry
Cultivating Communities of Practice E. Wenger, R. McDermott, W. Snyder
A Theory of Everything Ken Wilber
Soul of the Computer Barbara Waugh

Description of Ratings

Directly relevant — a very important contribution to illuminating what can be seen through this lens.
Clearly contributes to what can be seen through this lens.
Philosophically aligned, but limited direct contribution to understanding the nature and relevance of this particular lens.
Doesn't directly address what can be seen through this lens.

Caveat

These ratings represent only my subjective assessment of the usefulness of these particular books in illuminating the unique nature of these particular lenses—especially as they relate to the world of organizational learning and change.

A Few Observations

The quality of human designs can range from those which are potentially disastrous for now and future stakeholders to those which are truly generative, approaching Nature's designs in elegance, efficiency and effectiveness. The books selected for the above list help illustrate our potential for making generative design choices.

Organizational capacity-building capacity is an increasingly important design feature for organizations in today's world. This is the subset of Human Designs which will determine the nature of the life cycle(s) for an organization. The quality of our organization's approaches to capacity-building can also vary from disastrous to that which is truly generative. Generative Capacity-Building is a relatively new distinction. This web site is intended to serve as a base camp for those pioneering this emerging field.