It always takes longer than you expect [to read Gödel, Escher, Bach:], even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law…

this book is tough.
it’s been on and off my bookshelf for well over a year, i’m about half way through, and it’s still the first book i’ve typed into this website. inspiring, deepening, astounding, its as though this guy, hofstadter, commissioned all three subjects – godel, escher, bach – for the book. and then convinced the english language and the whole of Science to come along for the ride too. i only wonder “HOW DID YOU DO THIS???”. it’s complicated, drawn out, and dammit, those puzzles i didn’t come close to understanding, but its been put together as a masterpiece.
favourite part: the “fugue” dialogue, where the tortoise and maybe achilles come together, meet each other, then, each other meet, and together leave. clever.
i’ll finish it one day…

reading …. very slowly

Deftly unveiled interconnections between the big three, heading towards the nature of self and intelligence, but it gets bogged down in huge, horrible sticky patches every so often. Back to the back shelf with it.

Seemed intriguing, but I never got any momentum going the first try. I’ll definitely try it again someday, as it touches on lots of stuff I’m ostensibly interested in.

Incredible.

4/01/2003
Soul food for the brain.

Thank you, Allen! ♥ I am taking this book in bits and almost using it like a reference book.

This was one of the most rewarding books I ever read. Godel’s Proof never made as much sense. The Zen koans were great. Self-reference at every level!

This is certainly my favourite non-fiction book. A treasure trove of ideas and inspiration that is great to dip into and then walk around wondering about things. Like my favourite fiction book (Russell Hoban’s “Riddley Walker“), I don’t have my original copy any more, having lent it out never for it to be returned. Luckily, my good friend Robert gave me another copy.

If you like this, then look at Metamagical Themas, and also The Mind’s I. Similarly inspiring, though not as powerfully.

I am in love with this book. So far, his description of the structure of canons in classical music is amazing. I want to absorb every thought this guy has ever thought, but I suppose I’ll settle for reading each of his book sequentially. The last half of the book wasn’t as enlightening as the first half, but overall, one of the best books I’ve read in years.

I don’t think I’ve actually read the entire book all the way through, even though I’ve read the book twice or thrice. Some of the material just doesn’t turn me on, though there’s plenty that does.