Stafford Beer was one of the foremost holistic thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century. He was a passionate and compassionate social scientist who fought tirelessly against reductionism and the creed of greed. He was dedicated to the unity of all human experience and investigated the many ways in which our languages, models and paradigms fragment perception, separating us from each other and the world. This new anthology includes twenty two key papers by Beer, most of which are not to be found elsewhere. In addition, his unfinished autobiography is made available for the first time. There is also a generous selection of his poetry and paintings (in colour), as well as rare photographs from the family archives. The musician and record producer Brian Eno has contributed a thoughtful foreword, demonstrating the importance of Beer's work for his own music making in the 1970s. Throughout the book there are many references to Beer's talented peer group and friends, including the cyberneticians and systems thinkers Warren McCulloch, Ross Ashby, Heinz von Foerster, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. The book will also be of interest to anyone curious about Allende's experiment in democracy in Chile in the early 1970s.