Cybernetics & Systems Books

Here is a running list of cybernetics and systems books in my personal library — either they are about cybernetics or systems theory/science per se, or they feature works by notable cyberneticians or system theorists/scientists. I have many other books that intersect with or border on cybernetics, which are not listed here — books on mind-and-matter, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, cyberculture(s), (new) media, interactivity, design, etc. Feel free to inquire.

  • The Allure of Machinic Life: Cybernetics, Artificial Life, and the New AI by John Johnston
  • An Approach to Cybernetics by Gordon Pask
  • Aspects of the Theory of Artificial Intelligence: The Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Biosimulation by C. A. Muses (Ed.)
  • The Beginning of Heaven and Earth Has No Name: Seven Days with Second-Order Cybernetics by Heinz von Foerster (edited by Albert and Karl Müller, translated by Elinor Rooks and Michael Kasenbacher)
  • Brains, Machines, and Mathematics by Michael A. Arbib
  • Calculator Saturnalia, or Travels with a Calculator: A Compendium of Diversions and Improving Exercises for Ladies and Gentlemen by Gordon Pask, Ranulph Glanville, and Mike Robinson
  • The Certainty of Uncertainty: Dialogues Introducing Constructivism by Bernard Poerksen (Ed.)
  • The Computer and the Brain by John von Neumann
  • Conversation, Cognition and Learning: Cybernetic Theory and Methodology by Gordon Pask (electronic only)
  • Conversation Theory: Applications in Education and Epistemology by Gordon Pask (electronic only)
  • Creation: Life and How to Make It by Steve Grand
  • Cybernetics by F.H. George
  • Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (2nd ed.) by Norbert Wiener
  • Cybernetics: The Macy-Conferences 1946-1953 1 and 2 by Claus Pias
  • Cybernetics (The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia Of Catholicism) by Neville Moray
  • Cybernetics (EST-320 textbook, Dept. of Technology and Society, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook)
  • Cybernetics and Human Knowing: Heinz von Foerster: 1912-2002 (Vol. 10 Nos. 3-4)
  • Cybernetics and Human Knowing: Gregory Bateson: Essays for an Ecology of Ideas (Vol. 12 Nos. 1-2)
  • Cybernetics and Human Knowing: Francisco J. Varela: 1946-2001 (Vol. 9 No. 2)
  • Cybernetics and the Image of Man: A Study of Freedom and Responsibility in Man and Machine by Harold Hatt
  • Cybernetics, Art, and Ideas by Jasia Reichardt (Ed.)
  • Cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence, and Ecology: Proceeding from Third Symposium of the American Society for Cybernetics
  • The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future by Andrew Pickering
  • The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance: A Guide to Theory and Research by Gordon Pask (electronic only)
  • Cybernetics of the Nervous System by Norbert Wiener and J.P. Schadé (Eds.)
  • Cybernetics Simplified by A. Porter
  • The Cyborg Handbook by Chris Gray
  • Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior by W. Ross Ashby
  • Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer
  • The Dream of Reality: Heinz von Foerster’s Constructivism by Lynn Segal, Heinz von Foerster, and Paul Watzlawick
  • The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity by Heinz Pagels
  • Ecclesial Cybernetics: A Study of Democracy in the Church by Patrick Granfield
  • Electronic Brains: How Computers Work by Rolf Lohberg and Theo Lutz
  • The Electronic Cottage by Joseph Deken
  • The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience by Francisco Varela
  • Embodiments of Mind by Warren McCulloch
  • Emergence and Embodiment: New Essays on Second-Order Systems Theory by Bruce Clarke and Mark B. N. Hansen (Eds.)
  • Engineering Cybernetics by Robert M. Glorioso
  • The Enlightenment Cyborg: A History of Communications and Control in the Human Machine, 1660–1830 by Allison Muri
  • From Being to Doing: The Origins of the Biology of Cognition by Humberto Maturana
  • Fundamentals and History of Cybernetics: Development of the Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems by Stuart Umpleby (DVD set)
  • General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
  • General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice by Lars Skyttner
  • Great Ideas in Information Theory, Language and Cybernetics by Jagjit Singh
  • The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society by Norbert Wiener
  • Intelligent Machines: An Introduction to Cybernetics by D.A. Bell
  • International Encyclopedia of Systems And Cybernetics (1st ed.) by Charles François
  • Introduction to Cybernetics by W. Ross Ashby
  • The Josiah Macy. Jr. Foundation 1930–1955: A Review of Activities
  • The Living Brain by W. Grey Walter
  • Machines Who Think by Pamela McCorduck
  • Management Cybernetics (Tutorial) by Stuart Umpleby (DVD set)
  • The Mechanical Mind in History by Philip Husbands, Owen Holland, and Michael Wheeler (Eds.)
  • Mechanisms of Intelligence: Ashby’s Writings on Cybernetics by W. Ross Ashby and Roger Conant (electronic only)
  • Micro Man by Gordon Pask and Susan Curran
  • Mind and Brain: A Philosophy of Science by Arturo Rosenblueth
  • Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity by Gregory Bateson
  • Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science by Philip Mirowski
  • Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist by Walter Buckley
  • Neural Networks and Natural Intelligence by Stephen Grossberg (Ed.)
  • Observing Systems by Heinz von Foerster
  • Pask Present by Ranulph Glanville and Albert Müller (Eds.)
  • Pebbles to Computers: The Thread by Hans Blohm, Stafford Beer, and David Suzuki
  • Philosophical Foundations of Cybernetics by F.H. George
  • Philosophy and Cybernetics by Frederick Crosson and Kenneth Sayre (Eds.)
  • Platform for Change by Stafford Beer
  • The Process of Model-Building in the Behavioral Sciences by W. Ross Ashby et al
  • Processes and Boundaries of the Mind: Extending the Limit Line by Yair Neuman
  • Programming and Metaprogramming the Human Biocomputer by John Lilly
  • Progress in Biocybernetics. Vols. 1 and 2 by Norbert Wiener and J.P. Schadé (Eds.)
  • Purposive Systems: Proceeding from First Symposium of the American Society for Cybernetics
  • Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History by Thomas Rid
  • Robots, Men, and Minds: Psychology in the Modern World by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
  • The Science of Art: The Cybernetics of Creative Communication by Robert E Mueller
  • A Science of Goal Formulation by Stuart A. Umpleby and Vadim N. Sadovsky
  • The Stanford Lectures by Heinz von Foerster (w/ audio CD)
  • Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology by Gregory Bateson
  • Subduing the Cosmos: Cybernetics and Man’s Future by Kenneth L Vaux
  • Survey of Cybernetics: A Tribute to Dr. Norbert Wiener by J. Rose
  • Systemology and Linguistic Aspects of Cybernetics by G.P Melnikov
  • Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology, and Consciousness by Roy Ascott (Author) and Edward A. Shanken (Ed.)
  • The Theory of Interacting Systems: Volume 1: Niels Bohr: Reflections on Subject and Object by Paul McEvoy
  • The Theory of Interacting Systems: Volume 2: Classical Theory by Paul McEvoy
  • Thinking by Machine: A Study of Cybernetics by Pierre de Latil
  • Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows
  • The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela
  • Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design by Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores
  • Understanding Systems: Conversations on Epistemology and Ethics by Heinz von Foerster and Bernhard Poerksen
  • Understanding Understanding: Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition by Heinz von Foerster