Models: The Art of Understanding

Models is a tour through the life’s work of one person who spent his time trying to understand the way things work in the real world. The work finds its origins in a home in which unconditional love was exhibited by a caring mother and a vast scope of appreciation was exhibited by the father. A liberal arts degree in chemistry at the University of the South (Sewanee), a master’s degree in Geology at the University of South Carolina, and finally a PhD in Mineral Economics from Penn State laid the groundwork for a broad-based approach to understand how different systems work. An introduction to Systems Thinking rounded out the conceptual desire to see how connections are made between disparate disciplines in order to inform one’s understanding of any system under investigation. Models is not really a textbook or a memoir or even an encyclopedia but a blend of the three with the intention of introducing the reader to a whole world of adventure in dumping the pieces of a puzzle on the table and proceeding, piece by piece, to fit the pieces together until a picture of the whole emerges. It can be engaged on a number of different levels by a wide range of interested parties. The one common denominator is a profound desire to understand.