Replying to LO30577 --
I wrote:
> PS: You might find the monograph "Making Sense," by Fred Kofman and John
> Weeks, of interest, too. I found it quite mind-bending, interesting, and
> enlightening. It's available from SoL; see
> http://www.sol-ne.org/res/wp/pubs.html.
and Rick wrote:
> [Host's Note: Thanks, Bill, for this reference. The monograph is no longer
> available from SoL. Bill, would you be willing to summarize the content
> for us here? ..Rick]
I'm sorry to hear that. Making Sense was one of the more (or perhaps
_the_ most) mind-bending and -expanding books I've ever read. Describing
it effectively would be, I surmise, a little like describing an LSD trip
to someone who's never even had a glass of wine (and, no, I haven't had
LSD nor any other of its close or distant relatives) -- highly bland and
ineffective. It brought home to me that there may be multiple truths (or
at least multiple versions of the truth) floating around most situations
we encounter, and it introduced me highly effectively to the nature and
existence of ontological inversions: the art of making the map more
important than the territory (not typically a good idea, in case it's not
obvious).
I'm reluctant to say more, for I fear it might spoil the effect for any
who do stumble across Making Sense. Part of the learning came from
figuring out exactly what I was reading, and that took quite a while! When
it was still published as an MIT report, I had the library of the company
where I worked buy a copy, and I bought copies for several colleagues.
Rick, I think you're part of SoL, right? Perhaps SoL would be interested
in making it available as a PDF on their Web site, assuming they could get
permissions to do so? Or perhaps Fred and John would be interested in
doing that on a Web site they create? If I had the permissions, I'd put
it up on mine.
Bill
-- Bill Harris 3217 102nd Place SE Facilitated Systems Everett, WA 98208 USA http://facilitatedsystems.com/ phone: +1 425 337-5541Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
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