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Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
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Author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
List Price: $21.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0465026567
Publisher: HarperCollins (January, 1999)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 3,359
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 4 out of 5
overrated, but still very good
No book could live up to this hype and praise, but still very worthwhile. It is best when describing difficult concepts of logic and computer science, weak when dragging in Zen and a tedious detour into molecular biology.
Rating: 5 out of 5
An epic intellectual journey
This book tries to explore several interrelated and complicated questions. These are "what makes a self?", "how is a self related to computers and formal systems?", "how is meaning created?" and "to what extent is self-reference essential for meaning?". To try and answer these questions (and he admits that there are currently no satisfactory answers), the author embarks on a journey touching physics, maths, art, biology, computer science, cognitive science, music, Zen etc etc etc. This is a huge book in terms of length, scope and meaning. That's probably why it's been quite popular for over 20 years.The book starts with an introduction to formal systems as rules for manipulating objects which can be represented as strings. He then links up to mathematical concepts to see how we can examine these systems and attach representation to them. Recursion is also introduced along with TNT (a special system of basic number theory), as well as some non-formal ways of thinking about systems (such as Zen). In the second part of the book, computers and cognitive science are linked to formal systems. Finally, using TNT as an example, Godel's incompleteness theorem is explained in a manner that's relatively easy for the layman to understand, as well as its implications with respect to meaning. Then, the book talks about self-reference on a more general sense as well as the progresses in AI and what this all has to do with the search for meaning and the investigation of our thinking selves. This may sound like a huge heap of tpoics and it is - but that's what makes the book special - its ways of connecting things from Godel's incompleteness theorem to Escher's self-referential prints to Bach's finely structured music which gives the "formal system" of musical notes an extra meaning. One of the enjoyable things about the book is that each chapter has a dialogue before it which introduces the subject in an easy and intuitive matter. The dialogues carry along the Socratic tradition with the main players being Achilles and the Tortoise. The book has hundreds of tables, diagrams and drawings to allow all readers to ponder at their level. Even if you don't agree with many of Hofstadter's theories, I hope you will still consider this a great book. It combines humour, philosophy, science and keen observation in an enriching way.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Genius
This is one of the most deeply brilliant books ever written. Rarely do I meet someone who actually understood it -- it is only superficially about weaving together the seemingly disparate works of Godel, Escher and Bach. It is a masterwork on consciousness, a colossal intellectual argument that parallels the tersely worded wisdom of a zen koan, whose purpose is to hint at truths that are inaccessible to human logic. Hofstadter hints at these truths by probing the godelian limits to self-understanding, the "snake eating itself"-like recursivity of consciousness. Zen koan are meant to provoke enlightenment through the momentary extrication from godelian-limited logic. The excersize of climbing the ladder of Hofstadter's argument will give you the tools to use logic to point yourself in the same direction, of truths beyond the scope of logic.
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