Douglas R. Hofstadter

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of "maps" or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

An Eternal Golden Braid

Godel, Escher, Bach

Kassia R

Chaitanya Baranwal

Having spent more than a month with this book, it's strange how I cannot pinpoint what it's really about. Just like Hofstadter mentioned, perhaps getting a low-level description for the book's contents is a futile attempt. I'll still give it a try.

For me, the book was about what meaning is, how it arises in human minds and whether it can be "formalized" just like mathematical systems are. Before starting the book, I never put so much thought into this idea, and never did I realize that this one question can have such scope and potential, so much that it can manifest itself in everything - be it math, philosophy, music, art, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, religion, computer science....okay, I'll stop here. In spite of it being one of the longest books I've read, the transitions among topics are so smooth, it feels as if the entire book was always revolving around one single idea - and that is indeed the case. That being said, it's difficult to understand at times (I found myself spending more than an hour on single pages!), and you might find yourself frustrated, trying to wrap your around some ideas. At times, I even feel that the book is a little repetitive, and Hofstadter tries to "force" you to abide by his views and thought processes. But the pain is definitely worth it. It's exquisitely written, with an ingenious combination of humor (the dialogues were so refreshing to read!), wit and insight into the workings of both our minds and the world around us. 

Towards the end, Hofstadter mentions how Godel's theorem may "deepen one's intuition for the relationship between mental structures", and I strongly believe that that is one of the most important goals of the book as well. Having gone through it's dense pages, I can proudly say that I've come across as someone more informed on consciousness, meaning and a hundred other concepts, and from now on, I'll be vigilant to all the isomorphisms in the world around me. One of the best books I've read!

iamazoo

sincerest gratitude and apologies to the New York Public Library: thanks for letting me renew this book for a whopping *5 TIMES* & sorry i kept it for almost 5 months - i’m too dumb to finish it at a normal human’s reading speed. it was a truly fun read though.

Keven Wang

I don’t feel like I qualified to leave a review for this book. Topics ranging from Bach to Zen to AI.

Just read the stars

Daniel Tao

John Philpin

laxem

John Manoogian III

'What is a self and how can a self come out of inanimate matter?' This is the riddle that drove Douglas Hofstadter to write this extraordinary book. In order to impart his original and personal view on the core mystery of human existence - our intangible sensation of 'I'-ness - Hofstadter defines the playful yet seemingly paradoxical notion of 'strange loop', and explicates this idea using analogies from many disciplines.

Gödel, Escher, Bach

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