[youtube q3yNJPkdtYo]

Brian Eno first came to the British public’s attention in the early 1970s as part of the rock band Roxy Music and now regularly produces albums for some of the biggest rock bands in the world, including Coldplay and U2. It is perhaps somewhat surprising that the source of Eno’s inspiration encompasses tombs from the management literature written by a professor who worked at Manchester Business School (MBS).

Stafford Beer was a visiting professor at MBS and wrote several books concerning the application of cybernetics to management.

A new book of previously unpublished articles has been collected together by author David Whittaker from the Beer archive. The book is to be released in late October and a BBC ‘Arena’ documentary featuring Eno is due for broadcast in November.

There is a planned book launch in Liverpool in the near future. I’ll be reporting on it for Free Trade.