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A review by adnielsen
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
5.0
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.