Connected Wisdom

"So well presented, so clearly written, so enticing to the teacher in me, so appealing to the self-directed learner. I love the way [Linda Booth Sweeney] connects classic folk tales to what's real for students (of any age) and to the larger context of natural systems. She prepares the reader for each tale such that we marvel at the universality of the spoken traditions of old.... If education can make the adjustment to a systems approach that is inclusive of environmental science and human relatedness as she suggests, we'll be far better off. I think the days of independence and self-centered thinking are over. We need a holistic approach to living and learning where teachers and children, families and communities, farmers and white-collar workers respect each other and depend on each other for the sustainability of the planet.

—Sandria Parsons, Founder, South Coast Learning Network

Connected Wisdom: Living Stories About Living Systems gathers twelve stories from different cultures that each reveal a unique example of a "living system." Through them, Linda Booth Sweeney shows that what we now call systems thinking has been around for a very long time.

A Balinese folktale tells the story of a gecko who cannot sleep because of the sparks from a firefly. He traces the cause of his complaint from one animal to another to the mosquitoes he depends on for his survival. Like this gecko, young readers will understand that all life is inter-related, and will be able to grasp the concept of the living system of "interdependence." In a Burmese folktale, a king spills a drop of honey on his windowsill, too little to bother cleaning up. Yet the drop draws a fly, which attracts a lizard, which is followed by a cat, then a dog, and the owners of the cat and the dog, each armed with a stick. When civil war erupts, the king and readers understand the living system of "linearity," in which an effect is disproportionate to its cause.

Clear and simple notes accompany these and the other stories in Connected Wisdom.

Says Sweeney, "If kids understand living systems, they're more likely to think and act in informed ways and less likely to jump to blame a single cause for the challenges they encounter. As kids appreciate and learn about living systems, they see that connections in nature, people, problems and events bind us all."

Connected Wisdom is a large-format, full-color volume that is as suitable for gift-giving as it is for classrooms and libraries.

Ages 9 and up

About the Author

Linda Booth Sweeney

Linda Booth Sweeney, Ed. D., is a researcher and writer dedicated to making the principles of systems thinking and sustainability accessible to children and others. She has worked with Outward Bound, Sloan School of M.I.T., and Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development, or SEED. She is the author of The Systems Thinking Playbook; When a Butterfly Sneezes: A guide for helping children explore interconnections in our world through favorite stories; The SEED Water Book; and numerous academic journals and newsletters. Sweeney lives outside Boston, Massachusetts. More information available at www.lindaboothsweeney.net.

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