bf777's review
5.0
I started reading GEB in high school. I began the book with an open mind, fascinated by the clever dialogues that brilliantly expose the abstractions discussed in the text. With time, though, I began to struggle through the MU problems, the Gödelian mathematics that dominate the first part of the book. At times, I had to put the book down and focus on other work. I tried to return to GEB when I could; and yet, soon, high school passed me by and then nearly all of my undergraduate degree zipped by before I picked up GEB seriously once again. I was certainly not the same person that I was when I started the book. Now, the subtleties of the dialogues of Achilles, the Tortoise, and their friends became clearer to me; I was more readily able to wrap my head around the Gödel problems; and Hofstadter's arguments began to weave themselves together (well, Hofstadter was the ultimate creator of this weave, but the notion of these arguments "weaving themselves together" goes with the spirit of the book).
Perhaps more than any other book I've read, this book made me ponder. Hofstadter draws brilliant connections in a mathematically rigourous fashion, while dropping in sometimes mind-bending links among disparate fields and clever linguistic structures alike. Moreover, this book meshes extraordinarily well with the works of art it discusses, at times emulating and improvising upon them such that it becomes - as many of the pieces discussed within it - a meta-commentary on itself, as well as a broader commentary of the incredible patterns that we may find in the world around us.
You may expect that with my opening statements about my years-long journey in reading this book that I would find some sort of parallel between this book and my life. Alas, I cannot make any such comparison (although it would certainly be elegant to do so). However, I will say that this incredible work has helped me approach the world with a keener eye; with a deeper appreciation for the role of mathematics in the arts and vice versa; and with an admiration for Bach's Musical Offering (if possible, I strongly recommend listening to the Bach and Cage pieces mentioned in the book as you read it - it makes for quite an inspiring experience).
I have never taken longer to finish a book than GEB. And yet, this book is so fascinating, so worthy of taking time to contemplate the words you've just read, that it almost seems appropriate that it should have taken me so many years to finish this book.
Perhaps more than any other book I've read, this book made me ponder. Hofstadter draws brilliant connections in a mathematically rigourous fashion, while dropping in sometimes mind-bending links among disparate fields and clever linguistic structures alike. Moreover, this book meshes extraordinarily well with the works of art it discusses, at times emulating and improvising upon them such that it becomes - as many of the pieces discussed within it - a meta-commentary on itself, as well as a broader commentary of the incredible patterns that we may find in the world around us.
You may expect that with my opening statements about my years-long journey in reading this book that I would find some sort of parallel between this book and my life. Alas, I cannot make any such comparison (although it would certainly be elegant to do so). However, I will say that this incredible work has helped me approach the world with a keener eye; with a deeper appreciation for the role of mathematics in the arts and vice versa; and with an admiration for Bach's Musical Offering (if possible, I strongly recommend listening to the Bach and Cage pieces mentioned in the book as you read it - it makes for quite an inspiring experience).
I have never taken longer to finish a book than GEB. And yet, this book is so fascinating, so worthy of taking time to contemplate the words you've just read, that it almost seems appropriate that it should have taken me so many years to finish this book.
colebon's review
5.0
Awestruck and mind blown every chapter.
Elegantly and playfully written, full of surreal dialogues, intriguing ideas and concepts. Highly recommend.
Elegantly and playfully written, full of surreal dialogues, intriguing ideas and concepts. Highly recommend.
iamazoo's review
4.0
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.
me_haugen's review
5.0
Read this one during some sort of "7 minutes in Heaven" mishap. I brought this book along to my kissing club which is like a book club except we all get together every month to try out new types of kisses we've learned about. There's nothing sexual about this, in fact most of us really don't even really like each other that much -- I heard the group chat I got kicked out of isn't even that active anymore -- but while we don't like each other, we are all passionate about new different mouth and tongue sensations. Anyway at this session, my frenemy Toby Maguire (yes, that one), was like "I learned a new type of 7 minutes in heaven, Marcus you go in the closet first then I'll explain." But when I went in the closet it must have accidentally locked and I heard Toby go "Oops guess we have to do upside spiderman kisses again! Even though that is an old one we all know and he always wants to do it even though defeats the purpose of the club and I kind of think he just tricked me into the closet because I am the one who is most resistant to his relentlessness. This book was good.
marisbest2's review
5.0
This book defies description. It’s at once number theory introduction, philosophy, brilliant wordplay and literary analysis, plus a thorough analysis and description of some primitive AI back from the 70s.
The analysis of cognition and self awareness is strong. The literary structure and multi nested analysis are just a brilliant work of art.
The biggest surprise from a 2022 standpoint is that even though there’s extensive analysis of the brain and neurons, neural nets aren’t considered. The second biggest surprise is that there’s practically no discussion of randomness or statistics. Everything is assumed to follow simple logical steps and loops. These two missing pieces would probably require a wholesale rethinking of every part of the argument.
Anyway glad I spent the time. Very very good.
The analysis of cognition and self awareness is strong. The literary structure and multi nested analysis are just a brilliant work of art.
The biggest surprise from a 2022 standpoint is that even though there’s extensive analysis of the brain and neurons, neural nets aren’t considered. The second biggest surprise is that there’s practically no discussion of randomness or statistics. Everything is assumed to follow simple logical steps and loops. These two missing pieces would probably require a wholesale rethinking of every part of the argument.
Anyway glad I spent the time. Very very good.
dunguyen's review
5.0
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter is a truly unique book. It's hard to explain exactly what it is about because Hofstadter brings in a multitude of themes. The most prevalent is the origins of intelligence and how intelligence can arise from inanimate matter.
Hofstadter weaves in Gödel's incompleteness theorem, the imagery of Escher and the works of Bach.
Gödel, Escher, Bach is a long read that alternates perfectly between the deep and technical subject matter and easy and lighthearted explanations. All the chapters are generally preceded by a tale that should illustrate the principle. These tales are great to read and introduces the concept to come in an easygoing manner. Then comes the concept itself which can be Gödel's incompleteness theorem, or how the brain works.
I must admit I did not completely understand this book. It is dense and detailed and I think it's one of these books that keep revealing new details on each reading. Hofstadter has done a magnificent job putting in puns, double meanings (isomorphism) and detail in this book, that I think it is hard to comprehend in the first reading.
I would really recommend this book if you are interested in philosophy, artificial intelligence or simply want to challenge yourself.
Hofstadter weaves in Gödel's incompleteness theorem, the imagery of Escher and the works of Bach.
Gödel, Escher, Bach is a long read that alternates perfectly between the deep and technical subject matter and easy and lighthearted explanations. All the chapters are generally preceded by a tale that should illustrate the principle. These tales are great to read and introduces the concept to come in an easygoing manner. Then comes the concept itself which can be Gödel's incompleteness theorem, or how the brain works.
I must admit I did not completely understand this book. It is dense and detailed and I think it's one of these books that keep revealing new details on each reading. Hofstadter has done a magnificent job putting in puns, double meanings (isomorphism) and detail in this book, that I think it is hard to comprehend in the first reading.
I would really recommend this book if you are interested in philosophy, artificial intelligence or simply want to challenge yourself.