Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
An essential book to anyone who studies language, logic or computing
It is too difficult in a review to do justice to a book that is so sprawling in topics and ideas, rigorous and yet so creative. I feel the illustration below by the author captures some of the essence of the book though:
"Figure 83 is a picture which can be interpreted on two levels. On one level, it is a sentence pointing at itself; on the other level, it is a picture of Epimenides executing his own death sentence."
This excerpt deals with one of the fundamental concepts of the book, self-referential paradoxes, which are at the centre of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, used in discussions of intelligence and consciousness. The illustration and caption also serve as an example of the creativity and humour of Hofstadter. If you find this remotely funny, I believe you will find the dialogues introducing each chapter amusing. However, developing the toolkit for understanding Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem isn't exactly a laugh riot. While needing no formal mathematical background, it is a formal thinking exercise comprising a decent chunk of the book. I think the current top rated review is a fair indicator for whether to invest the time or not. I would add though that regardless of total understanding, there are many interesting (or perhaps not, if you just wanted the central thesis of the book) discussions. Hofstadter loves to expand on examples and tangential points; language, Zen Buddhism, DNA and ant colonies to name several. Though acting as examples to a grander point, they offer interesting ideas to consider even in isolation. GEB is a truly thought provoking book. 5 stars.
"Figure 83 is a picture which can be interpreted on two levels. On one level, it is a sentence pointing at itself; on the other level, it is a picture of Epimenides executing his own death sentence."
This excerpt deals with one of the fundamental concepts of the book, self-referential paradoxes, which are at the centre of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, used in discussions of intelligence and consciousness. The illustration and caption also serve as an example of the creativity and humour of Hofstadter. If you find this remotely funny, I believe you will find the dialogues introducing each chapter amusing. However, developing the toolkit for understanding Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem isn't exactly a laugh riot. While needing no formal mathematical background, it is a formal thinking exercise comprising a decent chunk of the book. I think the current top rated review is a fair indicator for whether to invest the time or not. I would add though that regardless of total understanding, there are many interesting (or perhaps not, if you just wanted the central thesis of the book) discussions. Hofstadter loves to expand on examples and tangential points; language, Zen Buddhism, DNA and ant colonies to name several. Though acting as examples to a grander point, they offer interesting ideas to consider even in isolation. GEB is a truly thought provoking book. 5 stars.
This was published about the time I graduated from high school. I remember reading and loving what little I understood. I should probably read it again now as an adult and see if I can get some more out of it.
Had to give up on this copy and order another. This one had highlighter marks throughout. ARGH!
***
Finally done. I'm left with the feeling this could have (should have?) been a somewhat shorter book, but the expansive, dare I say recursive? nature of the various tangents gave me some breathing room to catch up--not so necessary during the musical and artistic passages, or the handling of AI, but boy howdy the math did make me slow down my reading. Hofstadter is a patient explainer of ideas, and that's both a blessing (during the difficult passages, which are few) and a curse (during the easier passages, which are more abundant). Still, this is a book I would highly recommend to anyone with interest in the building blocks of AI, how we define intelligence, and how we decide what makes any system, whether of music, art, or mathematics, whole.
***
Finally done. I'm left with the feeling this could have (should have?) been a somewhat shorter book, but the expansive, dare I say recursive? nature of the various tangents gave me some breathing room to catch up--not so necessary during the musical and artistic passages, or the handling of AI, but boy howdy the math did make me slow down my reading. Hofstadter is a patient explainer of ideas, and that's both a blessing (during the difficult passages, which are few) and a curse (during the easier passages, which are more abundant). Still, this is a book I would highly recommend to anyone with interest in the building blocks of AI, how we define intelligence, and how we decide what makes any system, whether of music, art, or mathematics, whole.
I remember the title more than the content, it was a tough read.
I finally finished this awful book! I honestly only finished it because I have a compulsive need to finish every book I start. I thought this book was going to be this beautiful interweaving of art and math and it was mostly just math. I think some of the connections are actually there, but the way the author expresses those connections makes them feel forced and pedantic. He seems to think he's very clever, and he probably is, but he also comes across as arrogant. He breaks up his pontificating with dialogues, while are thinly veiled pontificating by his characters. He is truly bad at creating dialogues, and those also come out feeling forced and awkward. I found a few topics enjoyable in this book, but the parts I liked were only a paragraph or two at a time, spread thinly throughout 700+ pages of overly intellectualized babbling.
One of those books that left me so happy. The essential point - strange loops - (even though of course many people claim that the book doesn't have an essential point) wasn't difficult to grasp and, once understood, didn't seem particularly novel. What is astounding is Hofstadter's erudition, and his capacity to master this erudition to produce a book that speaks not just about consciousness and our concept of "I", but also in the process, that provides us with short masterclasses and novel thoughts on painting and etching, Bach's music, Pre-Socratic paradoxes, the history of Mathematics etc.
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
A book which builds and builds, cleverly setting in place the scaffolding required for the reader to understand an immense but fascinating idea: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem.
For best effect, I recommend working diligently through the book and actually completing the practical exercises. When you arrive at the closing chapters, you'll be rewarded by a sudden flash of insight and understanding that binds together all the concepts the book has introduced one by one.
A challenging read, but well worth the effort.
For best effect, I recommend working diligently through the book and actually completing the practical exercises. When you arrive at the closing chapters, you'll be rewarded by a sudden flash of insight and understanding that binds together all the concepts the book has introduced one by one.
A challenging read, but well worth the effort.
My favorite book. If I had to be stuck on a desert island, this is the book I'd take with me.
Well, that's not true. I'd take a book on ship building and wilderness survival. But this is probably one of the most important books I've read.
Well, that's not true. I'd take a book on ship building and wilderness survival. But this is probably one of the most important books I've read.
I finally finished this. It only took 2.5+ years off and on. I very much recommend the first half, and all of the dialogs, which are informative and consistently entertaining. The second half (except the dialogs) drags quite a bit, so I stopped looking forward to reading it. But the first half remains a great introduction to recursion, maps, figure & ground, etc., and is still fun for someone who is already familiar with these concepts.