Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.79 You Save: $13.16 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.72 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Book Review: Out of the Matrix
Summary: 5 Stars
Hofstadter employs the concepts of strange loops, recursion, computer systems, and artificial intelligence as metaphors to explain epistemology. The great insight of this book is that the truth or proof of a system is not contained within the system, but outside the system. Inside any system, self-referencing loops create the illusion of truth because each element can be supported by references to other elements within the system, so long as the system consistently and uniformly follows its own laws. The system acquires meaning as we gain relation to it, interact with it, and build our lives around it.
Similarly, in the movie "The Matrix," the matrix itself represents a masterful system of self-referencing elements that follow the laws of the system with uniformity and precision, but it is all an illusion, a lie. Inside the Matrix, one cannot verify whether the system itself is authentic. Each element references another element within the matrix. The laws of gravity function properly, the physical addresses are correct, the maps serve you well, and your favorite restaurant has "really good noodles." You build your life around it, your emotional and intellectual constructs around it, and it becomes part of you. From within the Matrix, one cannot challenge and test the critical assumptions upon which the matrix is built. As Neo learns, reaching outside the Matrix removes him from his life of ignorant comfort to the startling reality that he has been living a lie. On a darkling plain at the edge of a precipice, Morpheus wakes Neo to the terrifying reality: "Welcome to the desert of the real."
Book Review: A momument of literature...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not great at this review writing thing, so I'm wary of whether I can do justice to this book. But it amazed me so much I feel inclined to contribute to the praise.There's no way to accurately categorize GEB. At some points it appears to be a book on music, at others it delves into number theory, in some chapters it provides information on Zen, and later it appears to be an essay on artificial intelligence. The remarkable beauty is that Hofstadter somehow ingeniously links everything. The book is filled with subtle links to previous ideas as well as future ones.
Granted, the book is difficult to read. Hofstadter frequently poses questions or puzzles without answering them, and you'll find yourself having to reread previous passages to understand new ideas. But this keeps you thinking, something you must do to get through this 800 work of art.
Between each chapter is a dialog between two characters, Achilles and the Tortoise. These dialogs are analogies to help introduce future topics, as well as entertaining stories. They could be a book by themselves.
Hofstadter's writing is incredibly deep, sometimes entertaining, and frequently amazing. Consider the chapter "Crab Canon" - it's identical line for line backwards and forwards, yet the meaning changes. It's just one of the many themes in the book - symmetry, self-reference, recursion, and meaning.
I just don't know how to explain it. This book will change the way you think, literally. It is an awe inspiring work by an awe inspiring author. All I can say is buy it, you'll be amazed.
Book Review: Oh the recursive nature of wonder...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Professor Hofstadter's Thesis. Those thinking about reading this book should do some research before doing so since it is over 25 years old...
Perhaps that will level set expectations, so that you might objectively evaluate it's merit, and make an informed decision on whether or not it is a good investment for you individually... But then that would be exercising exactly what this book is about... Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
If you are intrigued and fascinated by what it means to be human and have a Mind... If you are the type who wonders... Why, or more importantly, how do I wonder? Then you owe it to yourself to read this book... Even if like me, you struggle to comprehend it and read it many, many times until the light grows from a flicker to a full on fire, you will appreciate your self-discipline in the end.
This book absolutely stands on it's own as an illuminating discourse on how the animate springs forth from the inanimate. If you don't like it, put it down and read something you do enjoy, but don't take it personal and attack the author. Good, bad, or indifferent this book represents a monumental achievement for a brilliant human mind, and that is irrefutable.
Whether or not this is your "cup-of-tea" is inconsequential, we should all be thankful for people like Professor Hofstadter, who dare to live without self-imposed limits, and take on the monumental effort of expanding the human collective consciousness.
Book Review: So, I finally finished it
Summary: 5 Stars
Plainly put, this book was a ride. Standing back from a distance and looking at what the author has done really can put you in awe - the sheer scope of this work is breathtaking. He digs into many different scientific, mathematical, and artistic disciplines, and somehow manages to work them all together into a sometimes confusing, but ultimately satisfying whole.
The short dialogues that fit in between each chapter are clever and always thought-provoking, but the bulk of this book's worth comes in the chapters. From the beginning to the end, I constantly found myself having to stop and rethink my perspective on many subjects. As the end of the book nears, he wraps it up by theorizing profoundly on the then-blooming subject of artificial intelligence. While parts of this are dated by this point, much of it isn't, and that is a testament to Hofstadter's powerful intellect and foresight.
As you may have guessed from my review's title, this is not a summer beach read. Admittedly I am not the world's fastest reader, but this one took me a few months to complete (I would often put it down for a stretch and pick it up again some time later). So take your time with this one - enjoy it, reread passages you didn't understand the first time, and maybe pick up a different, easier book when you feel bogged down. But for anyone with any interest in mathematics, computer science, or the philosophy of the human mind, this is a must-have and well worth all the time you can give it.
Book Review: Magnum Opus on Intelligence
Summary: 5 Stars
I realized after recommending this to a friend that I've never reviewed it. Strange, since it's one of the dozen most important books I've ever read in my nearly half-century on this planet. I first read it over 20 years ago, and continue to refer to its literate and well-crafted pages frequently.
This book is Doug Hofstadter's religion. Since it's so good and so right about so many things, people run off into strange places with Hofstadter's words, sort of like the Bible. GEB (the shorthand name for the book) is, for me, a meta-level examination of what it is to be human. Some people see the shadows of the gods in there. I'm not trying to be melodramatic, nor do I believe I'm overstating the value of this book.
Hofstadter takes the reader along on a Carrollian trip using metaphor and fable. Then he employs pedagogical, practical exercises, and good old-fashion lecture. Rinse and repeat, again and again. When he tells you to get pen and paper, please do it. Take your time with this book. I tried and failed on my first attempt. When I finally settled into it, it took me three months to joyously work my way through it. Take a year if you need it.
Reception, analysis, recursion, reapplication. Hofstadter examines the basic evidences of intelligence, forms sensible, fundamental meta-rules, and builds from there. This book - as others have said - is hard work, like climbing a mountain. But at the end of the endeavor, the view is dazzling.