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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
This book explores some interesting concepts; the best ones, to me, were descriptions of interesting problems in number theory and some stuff I didn't know about Bach's music. Fortunately, these and other ideas were very cool, which redeemed the book somewhat from its rather severe flaws. Since lots of people can explain the book's virtue (it being a bestseller), here are the things that annoyed me:
Firstly, it is VERY clear that there was no editor involved in this text, and large irrelevant or redundant portions are tiresome. It should have been half as long, and either split into multiple texts or at least ordered more logically. As it stands, it's a very long slog, where tiny important points can be lost in pages and pages of skimmable redundancy.
While that error could perhaps be corrected with effort, the author's style often strikes me as pretentious. It feels like he thinks he's really smart, and that his reader is really dumb (although this doesn't stop him from presenting really complicated concepts, to his credit!) Even in the preface, he complains about how nobody seemed to "really understand" the deeeeeeeep, impooooooortant message of his book the first time around.
Similarly, throughout the text, every time he does something clever--a play on words, or another trick--he takes great pleasure in pointing out exactly what he did and how clever it is. Usually a few times. Jesus christ, Hofstadter, just make a joke glossary if you think you're so above us all, and stop interrupting your text with innumerable references to how much of a FREAKING GENIUS you are.
To be fair, Hofstadter is clearly smart, smarter than me, and he wrote a huuuge freaking book with everything he'd ever thought of in it. He's thought of a lot of things. His obsession with how to convey them to us stupid masses, and his insistence on author self-insertion, takes a lot away from an otherwise fascinating book.
Firstly, it is VERY clear that there was no editor involved in this text, and large irrelevant or redundant portions are tiresome. It should have been half as long, and either split into multiple texts or at least ordered more logically. As it stands, it's a very long slog, where tiny important points can be lost in pages and pages of skimmable redundancy.
While that error could perhaps be corrected with effort, the author's style often strikes me as pretentious. It feels like he thinks he's really smart, and that his reader is really dumb (although this doesn't stop him from presenting really complicated concepts, to his credit!) Even in the preface, he complains about how nobody seemed to "really understand" the deeeeeeeep, impooooooortant message of his book the first time around.
Similarly, throughout the text, every time he does something clever--a play on words, or another trick--he takes great pleasure in pointing out exactly what he did and how clever it is. Usually a few times. Jesus christ, Hofstadter, just make a joke glossary if you think you're so above us all, and stop interrupting your text with innumerable references to how much of a FREAKING GENIUS you are.
To be fair, Hofstadter is clearly smart, smarter than me, and he wrote a huuuge freaking book with everything he'd ever thought of in it. He's thought of a lot of things. His obsession with how to convey them to us stupid masses, and his insistence on author self-insertion, takes a lot away from an otherwise fascinating book.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book somehow manages to be a fairly light interesting read about a complex set of topics exemplified by the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Hofstadter managed to connect all kinds of seemingly unrelated topics, and weave them together throughout the entire book
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
I’m glad I read this. It’s like reading Richard Feynman, but less accessible.
Infinity is hard and makes math really complicated. But the book softens the concepts with ties in to art and music (and biology), before going really deep again on cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
The pun-filled and whimsical dialogues are wonderful.
Infinity is hard and makes math really complicated. But the book softens the concepts with ties in to art and music (and biology), before going really deep again on cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
The pun-filled and whimsical dialogues are wonderful.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Mind = blown. I'll never be able to think about the world the same after reading this book. Hofstadter sometimes gets bogged down with very technical language and some of his segues lack grace, but the scope and ambition of the book outweigh any flaws. He is playful to a fault, but that's better than being absolutely uninteresting to a fault. He also relies on the reader to figure out certain connections, which makes for something more difficult than it needs to be if the goal is to educate people who aren't familiar with these ideas in the first place.
I first picked this up about two years ago and even though Hofstadter cleverly warms you up to Gödel and his mind blowing theorems, I put the book down and embarked a short excursion to get to know Gödel and his place in Philosophy of Mathematics. I enjoyed Goldstein’s biography of him, read about the logical positivists and the Vienna Circle, and took a philosophy class at the local university on the proofs of his Incompleteness Theorems. Like Hofstadter, I devoured Nagel and Newman’s discussion of Gödel‘s proofs.
Feeling a little more confident to tackle this big brick, I dove in and read over the course of a month to great pleasure. The book itself is deep on many levels with some of the richest metaphors and word play I’ve read. Of course, whenever I would find a little Easter Egg or all too weird coincidence, I’d simultaneously wonder how many other readers found it and also how many other Easter Eggs I was missing.
What is the book about? According to author in the introduction to the 20th anniversary edition, most readers have no clue. Reviews of the book in many publications sound like they have no clue either, using descriptions like “it’s about math, art, and music.” Sure, these topics play a fun role in the overall grand scheme, but I think Hofstadter is pushing for something far deeper.
I really enjoyed the format of the book. There were silly interludes of cartoon characters alluding to much deeper topics to be discussed in the following chapter. At times the journey through the book can feel psychedelic with excursions into foundational mathematics, Turing machines, formal systems, molecular biology, music theory, modern art, self reference, and artificial intelligence.
This is a challenging read and I’m sure nearly all readers will not be an expert in many of the topics discussed in the book but I found it extremely enjoyable to read and experience. I no doubt did not fully understand every detail of this book and for that reason, it’ll be a great book to revisit in a few years.
Two thumbs up. Five stars. Would highly recommend to nerds.
Feeling a little more confident to tackle this big brick, I dove in and read over the course of a month to great pleasure. The book itself is deep on many levels with some of the richest metaphors and word play I’ve read. Of course, whenever I would find a little Easter Egg or all too weird coincidence, I’d simultaneously wonder how many other readers found it and also how many other Easter Eggs I was missing.
What is the book about? According to author in the introduction to the 20th anniversary edition, most readers have no clue. Reviews of the book in many publications sound like they have no clue either, using descriptions like “it’s about math, art, and music.” Sure, these topics play a fun role in the overall grand scheme, but I think Hofstadter is pushing for something far deeper.
I really enjoyed the format of the book. There were silly interludes of cartoon characters alluding to much deeper topics to be discussed in the following chapter. At times the journey through the book can feel psychedelic with excursions into foundational mathematics, Turing machines, formal systems, molecular biology, music theory, modern art, self reference, and artificial intelligence.
This is a challenging read and I’m sure nearly all readers will not be an expert in many of the topics discussed in the book but I found it extremely enjoyable to read and experience. I no doubt did not fully understand every detail of this book and for that reason, it’ll be a great book to revisit in a few years.
Two thumbs up. Five stars. Would highly recommend to nerds.