Structured Decision Making: A Practical Guide to Environmental Management Choices by Gregory, Robin, Failing, Lee, Harstone, Michael, Long, Graha [Wiley-Blackwell, 2012] (Paperback) [Paperback]

by Gregory of Nazianzus

Structured Decision A Practical Guide to Environmental Management Cho...

Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Gregory of Nazianzus (Greek: Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός Grēgorios ho Nazianzēnos; c. 329–25 January 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople, and theologian. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.

Gregory made a significant impact on the shape of Trinitarian theology among both Greek- and Latin-speaking theologians, and he is remembered as the "Trinitarian Theologian". Much of his theological work continues to influence modern theologians, especially in regard to the relationship among the three Persons of the Trinity. Along with the brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers.

Gregory is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church; in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.

He is also one of only three men in the life of the Orthodox Church who have been officially designated "Theologian" by epithet, the other two being St. John the Theologian (the Evangelist), and St. Symeon the New Theologian.

Reviews

[Joshua Booker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential reading for decision analysts, but probably overkill for everyone else (Smart Choices is a better primer). Dense with information and advice, most of which I found incredibly useful. The only irksome quality I found was the repeated and popular assertion that “ought”s can’t come from is, that science alone can’t guide our decision making. I agree only so far as to say that most people’s values are based on unscientific foundations, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that a value system couldn’t or shouldn’t be empirical to some degree. As an analyst, I’m willing to play along with any absurd combinations of objectives in order to resolve a problem, but I think we should be able to put ourselves in a position to separate good decisions from bad ones based on the type of value system used to make it. Anyway, it’s still a great book.

[Giuliana Ferrari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually don't give more or less than 3 stars for an academic book, given they are usually highly instructional and don't perform a life-changing mind-altering process in my mind. This is a good book, albeit highly repetitive at times, but honestly it's just average. Some chapters were quite boring to go through, which explains why it took me so long to read through it. On and all I would recommend for people in the area but that's basically it.

[Otto Hahaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe the most important lesson I got from this book is that the most mathematically sophisticated (and groovy) methods for decision working do not work in real life. Oh well. I could added one more star if I wanted to, now only three stars because there is not much I can use in my daily work. But if I had to interact with lots of real people in muddy real life situations, I would definitely read this again carefully and add one more star. But as it is, my decision making is in more abstract level, where I can try to use esoteric algorithms for my grossly simplified problems...