Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
First of all, a confession: a not insignificant fraction of this book, particularly parts dealing w the typographic representations of number theory, and parts dealing w computer programming (programming as it was in the 70s mind you!), and several others, were skimmed over without too much love lost on them. It was the only way to keep the momentum through this 750 page DENSE behemoth with passages that are all but indecipherable to even fluent English speakers.
Having said that, I enjoyed this book immensely, even if it could have been shorter and more to the point. While I may not have always followed hofstadters "eternal golden braid" throughout the book, it was a wonderful, and often whimsical course through many of the topics in music, art, philosophy, religion, math, and science that have interested me for years. There were many many passages that led me off on tangential thoughts, re-evaluating my beliefs on many things, and forcing me to investigate topics and opinions I had not thoroughly fleshed out.
The "dialogues" in this book intended to familiarize readers with upcoming topics in a light-hearted manner were written w incredible verisimilitude to Lewis Carroll's own whimsical style, and were without exception extremely clever and entertaining.
Overall, I do recommend this book to anyone who likes thinking about thinking, who enjoys a challenge, and who can persevere when the reading gets difficult.
Having said that, I enjoyed this book immensely, even if it could have been shorter and more to the point. While I may not have always followed hofstadters "eternal golden braid" throughout the book, it was a wonderful, and often whimsical course through many of the topics in music, art, philosophy, religion, math, and science that have interested me for years. There were many many passages that led me off on tangential thoughts, re-evaluating my beliefs on many things, and forcing me to investigate topics and opinions I had not thoroughly fleshed out.
The "dialogues" in this book intended to familiarize readers with upcoming topics in a light-hearted manner were written w incredible verisimilitude to Lewis Carroll's own whimsical style, and were without exception extremely clever and entertaining.
Overall, I do recommend this book to anyone who likes thinking about thinking, who enjoys a challenge, and who can persevere when the reading gets difficult.
"Not a simple read." No kidding! This is no idle beach reading, at least not for most folks. You'll want to pause and think while reading this one, and you should.
A very interesting and unique book, playful, insightful, funny and sometimes a bit weird. The main thread revolves around a seeming paradox that resides at the bottom of the concept of the mind. Mr. Hofstadter treats this subject from many different angles: through visual art and music, through rigorous logic and the endeavour of building ever more powerful artificial intelligence systems. He sporadically makes very interesting references to Zen Buddhism - though he himself denies that he knows much about the topic, I found them very original and approachable (at least compared to some of the other recognized sources). The form of the text is an interplay of fictional dialogues and regular chapters, where each dialogue introduces a new topic in a playful manner and the following chapter treats it in more depth.
His later yet similar work, [b:I Am a Strange Loop|123471|I Am a Strange Loop|Douglas R. Hofstadter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442775722l/123471._SX50_.jpg|2691404] I found a bit easier to follow, somewhat more evocative and definitely more personal and emotional. Both left an impression on me, but the later one perhaps a bit deeper. Had I read them at a younger age, it might have been the opposite.
His later yet similar work, [b:I Am a Strange Loop|123471|I Am a Strange Loop|Douglas R. Hofstadter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442775722l/123471._SX50_.jpg|2691404] I found a bit easier to follow, somewhat more evocative and definitely more personal and emotional. Both left an impression on me, but the later one perhaps a bit deeper. Had I read them at a younger age, it might have been the opposite.
I should have finished this book before I started it*. That way I would have known Hofstadter’s Law in advance:
Much of the fabric of this book relies on the logic and paradox of self-reference, which is ironic, as an early example of this concept is presented in the form of Zeno’s Paradox (This rather cunning mental exercise explains that, the closer you are to the end of something, the further away that end seems to get).
This is precisely analogous to my experience of reading this book.
I’ve owned GEB since 1988, or thereabouts. At the time, I got it for the pictures. Since then, it’s sat on my bookshelf through military service, a marriage, children being born, growing up and leaving home, several other careers and (in the wider world) some quite breathtaking advances in computer science and DNA manipulation. Finally taking the book off the shelf and completing it feels like a milestone event for me. On a personal level, I’m delighted to have managed to read every line, worked through every puzzle and forced myself to properly understand each concept before moving on to the next (Much of that progress made possible through related YouTube videos).
You could argue that this was never going to be an easy read for me, since I have the mathematical ability of the average tree frog. But actually, very little of this book needed “real” mathematics. Even the most bewildering sections of TNT (Typographical Number Theory) amounted to little more than detailed and symbolic grammar structures which could be “decoded” as English, rather than maths.
There’s lots to like in this book. Not least at times when the author clearly lays out concepts such as fractal geometry and Mandelbrot-style recursion, a clear decade before the concept went mainstream. There are some truly fascinating glimpses into the early stages of computer programming, explaining decision gates and looping matrixes that seem so much easier to understand now that coding extends to much of our lives and we’ve spent so much time living with our “smart” devices.
It also makes sense to compare so much of the mathematical / self referential mechanics to the splendid art of Escher, but personally speaking, I would have liked much more Escher and far less Gödel and Bach.
There’s an enlightening section in this book which looks at the coding of DNA and explains that you can’t point to any of those chemical compounds, or to the firing of synaptic nerves and identify self-awareness, any more than you can look at a single ant to explain the complex workings of an ant hill. And yet, as Hofstadter explains, here we are.
But still - only three stars. For all its cleverness, its pioneering concepts, its neat wordplay and light-hearted digression, I can’t help but feel relieved for having finally made it to the end. I remain utterly unmoved by Bach (no matter how clever he is) and find dialogues which are based on his fugues almost as tedious as the music.
I suspect that if this text had been half as long, I would have enjoyed it twice as much. Although that probably says more about my attention span than it does about the book.
*Deliberately circular comment for Gödel and Escher fans.
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law
Much of the fabric of this book relies on the logic and paradox of self-reference, which is ironic, as an early example of this concept is presented in the form of Zeno’s Paradox (This rather cunning mental exercise explains that, the closer you are to the end of something, the further away that end seems to get).
This is precisely analogous to my experience of reading this book.
I’ve owned GEB since 1988, or thereabouts. At the time, I got it for the pictures. Since then, it’s sat on my bookshelf through military service, a marriage, children being born, growing up and leaving home, several other careers and (in the wider world) some quite breathtaking advances in computer science and DNA manipulation. Finally taking the book off the shelf and completing it feels like a milestone event for me. On a personal level, I’m delighted to have managed to read every line, worked through every puzzle and forced myself to properly understand each concept before moving on to the next (Much of that progress made possible through related YouTube videos).
You could argue that this was never going to be an easy read for me, since I have the mathematical ability of the average tree frog. But actually, very little of this book needed “real” mathematics. Even the most bewildering sections of TNT (Typographical Number Theory) amounted to little more than detailed and symbolic grammar structures which could be “decoded” as English, rather than maths.
There’s lots to like in this book. Not least at times when the author clearly lays out concepts such as fractal geometry and Mandelbrot-style recursion, a clear decade before the concept went mainstream. There are some truly fascinating glimpses into the early stages of computer programming, explaining decision gates and looping matrixes that seem so much easier to understand now that coding extends to much of our lives and we’ve spent so much time living with our “smart” devices.
It also makes sense to compare so much of the mathematical / self referential mechanics to the splendid art of Escher, but personally speaking, I would have liked much more Escher and far less Gödel and Bach.
There’s an enlightening section in this book which looks at the coding of DNA and explains that you can’t point to any of those chemical compounds, or to the firing of synaptic nerves and identify self-awareness, any more than you can look at a single ant to explain the complex workings of an ant hill. And yet, as Hofstadter explains, here we are.
But still - only three stars. For all its cleverness, its pioneering concepts, its neat wordplay and light-hearted digression, I can’t help but feel relieved for having finally made it to the end. I remain utterly unmoved by Bach (no matter how clever he is) and find dialogues which are based on his fugues almost as tedious as the music.
I suspect that if this text had been half as long, I would have enjoyed it twice as much. Although that probably says more about my attention span than it does about the book.
*Deliberately circular comment for Gödel and Escher fans.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Il libro che mi ha fatto innamorare dell'intelligenza artificiale e della coscienza. Per 9/10 parla di altre cose, solo alla fine si capisce — e non tutti ci riescono, nemmeno io, ho dovuto leggere Anelli nell'Io per capirlo — che parla degli strani meccanismi di autoreferenzialità che stanno alla base della coscienza umana, dell'Io, appunto.
Lo dico semplice semplice: se vi interessate all'intelligenza DOVETE leggerlo. Niente storie. È lungo, peso, a tratti difficile da capire, ci si può mettere anni a leggerlo (io ne ho impiegati un paio, da 16 a 18 anni), ma VA letto.
Lo dico semplice semplice: se vi interessate all'intelligenza DOVETE leggerlo. Niente storie. È lungo, peso, a tratti difficile da capire, ci si può mettere anni a leggerlo (io ne ho impiegati un paio, da 16 a 18 anni), ma VA letto.
One of the most enjoyable works on Cognitive Science around. Wonderfully personal and quirky, complicated and multilayered. One of a handful of books I have read more than once.
This book presents a really cool idea in a really self-obsessed kind of way. There are some fun puzzles along the way, and some interesting ideas to think about. The presentation of Godels theorems is pretty interesting, but theres a little too much fluff before you get there.