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Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

sanyuja

sanyuja

New Member
Anybody read it? I am planning to buy that book (got a strong recommendation from someone whose words I value a lot). Your valuable inputs please...
 
Maya said:
Never heard of it. Care to tell what you know about it?
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This is what I found on one of the bookclub sites :
Linking together the music of Bach, the graphic art of Escher and the mathematical theorems of Godel, as well as ideas drawn from logic, biology, psyhcology, physics and linguistics, Hofstadter illumnintaes one of the greatest mysteries of modern science: the nature of the human thought process.
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I dont want to mislead you by telling you what I think the book is about.
 
sanyuja said:
I dont want to mislead you by telling you what I think the book is about.
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Thank you for answering. :)
It sounds interesting. Let us know what you think of it, after having read it of course. ;)
 
I have Godel Escher Bach on the bookshelf, but I haven't read it myself.

My husband bought it and loved it. Also liked that author's later book, forget the name. But he's much more into nonfiction science writing than I am, such as Gleick's Chaos, Stephen Hawkings, Richard Feynmann, Bernd Heinrich, Longitude, Simon Winchester, Jared Diamond, Making of the Atomic Bomb, and things like that. The closest he gets to fiction is Primo Levi.

I tend to choose fiction-fiction. Maybe some day I will grow up and want to know something about the physical universe, but the psychological landscape is keeping me fully occupied at the moment. :rolleyes:
 
I've tried reading it when I was about 18, but it was too big and too complicated for me at the time. I've always wanted to try again though, because it appeals to me, and also because one of my uncles said I'd never ever be able to finish it. He's not the brightest in the family, so if he can do it, so can I. :)
My dad read it and loved it.
What was the recommendation like?
 
Sure Maya, I will let you know what I think about it once I finish reading it. It will be a very long wait for you since I have heard that the book is too huge and its heavy reading.

Eliza, the person who recommended this book to me has read this book some n number of times and still feels that he hasnt completely understood the book. He says this book is brilliant. He didnt want to give me more details but said that I will definitely like this book.
 
Hi, Sanyuja! I recommend your looking at the reader reviews on Amazon.com. I read a lot of them, but still haven`t come to a decision as to whether or not to buy it. One person says it`s an amazing work, the next says that it`s hogwash. Perhaps one person "gets it" and the other person doesn`t? :confused: Hard to say. I think I`ll buy it to see for myself. It`s a reputable work. That says something, I guess!
 
froggerz40 said:
Hi, Sanyuja! I recommend your looking at the reader reviews on Amazon.com. I read a lot of them, but still haven`t come to a decision as to whether or not to buy it. One person says it`s an amazing work, the next says that it`s hogwash. Perhaps one person "gets it" and the other person doesn`t? :confused: Hard to say. I think I`ll buy it to see for myself. It`s a reputable work. That says something, I guess!
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Thanks for that suggestion frogger. But, till now I have heard people say good things about the book. And the person who is recommending this book knows a lot about books and knows my taste. So, I know I will like it.
I am going to buy it this weekend. :)
 
I've tried it no less than four times since I first stole it off my father's bookshelves some six or seven years ago. Each time I get farther into it, and each time when I end up giving up on it before the end (unintentionally of course) I feel incredibly dissapointed in myself. It's a book I would love to have the time and attention to devote myself wholely to. I just find that getting through books of that sheer size and magnitude is quite difficult.

My last effort was a little over two years ago, and I got maybe 60% through it. Since then I've picked up and put down two other books by the same author. One day I will manage to finish this book.
 
GEB was recommended to me about 3 years ago by someone who said it would interest readers who like hard sci-fi.

It sounds like something I would like, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
sanyuja said:
Anybody read it? I am planning to buy that book (got a strong recommendation from someone whose words I value a lot). Your valuable inputs please...
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I tried to read it a couple of times, but it went back on the tbr pile.... :(
Be interested to see what you make of it.
 
bobbyburns said:
you know how they update scientific theories and all that jazz, well, it seems the guy who wrote it didn't
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I got that, what I wanted to know was were you refering to some specific theory. Anyway, thanks :)
 
It's not really a book of scientific theories, that need to be updated. It's not a text book. It's a book that makes you think a lot. Not everything in the book is factually accurate, perhaps, but it's not a book of facts. It's a book to wrap your mind around for a time. If you enjoy paradoxes, and thinking about the nature of thought, and the concept of containers - like, the set of all sets, which clearly contains itself, then, this is a book for you.
Particularly, it examines, as the name implies, the work of the mathematician Godel, M.C.Escher, and J.S.Bach, and how their work is related, and on a higher level, how math, art, and music are related. He uses dialogues between Achilles and a Tortoise to illustrate his concepts. It is amusing, and mind-expanding. It's monumental. It's not an easy read - not by any means, but well worth the effort.
I loved it.
 
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