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

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Wed, 2006-04-12 12:20

Following on from Sci-Fi thread and mentioning Jeff Noon, when Noon was asked to give his top 10 reads by the Guardian, this came in at number 3.

"A complex, ticking bomb. This is easily the most difficult book I've ever read. It took me four goes, starting from the beginning each time, and it's 750 pages, just to explain Godel's Theory of Incompleteness. Along the way Hofstadter takes in all human knowledge systems, including Lewis Carroll. Still not sure what it's all about, but that's beside the point. Again, ideas abound. There are passages in here, without which, Vurt would not exist. "

Anyone read this, would you recommend or will I just end up depressed by my own confusion and incomprehension?

Wed, 2006-04-12 14:00

justyn_thyme

I read at least part of that book back when it first came out in the 80s. It's not nearly as difficult as he seems to think, but it does require concentration. Funny that I've been thinking about this book recently myself, possibly giving it a second go. It was very popular and hip at the time. Given your science background, it should not be so daunting. After all, it sold a gazzillion copies. If you like this kind of thing, CHAOS by Gleick would interest you, as would his other books, Genius (about Feyman) and Faster (about the speed up of life cause by technology). Chaos is the best, Genius is great if you are a Feynman fan, but Faster poops out before crossing the finish line. It's ok, but I was disappointed. Nothing particularly new there that the average observant person would not know from their own life experience. I don't need a book for that. Shameless plug for Warsaw Tales, available at www.new-ink.org(link is external)

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