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

Pros: Range of topics, witty, scientific, informative and thought-provoking.
Cons: Quite a bit of scientific and mathematical content.

At the core of "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" is Douglas Hofstadter's attempt to describe the self, and how self can manifest itself from the underlying inanimate matter. A question that that has been the subject of discussion and...

Pros: Brings together diverse fields and shows how they're really interrelated.
Cons: If you're JUST interested in Godel, Escher, and Bach, you'll be bored with all the other stuff in the book! :)

People might have no idea, going into this book, just what connection there is between a mathematician, an artist, and a musical composer. This book finds a huge number of connections and relationships between their works and the underlying themes and...

Pros: Entirely logical look at life, the universe and everything
Cons: Definitely not light reading. Absorb it slowly.

I first read this book after reading "The Emperor's New Mind" by Roger Penrose. That book left a bitter taste in my mind. This book left a sweet taste in my mind, and helped me "step outside" of myself.

First, both books used the same...

Pros: Clear engaging writing, masterful form.
Cons: Long and sometimes complicated.

Although filed under cognitive science, this book skillfully covers topics from genetics, art, mathematics, Zen Buddhism, music, and just about everything else and integrates them beautifully. Just as ambitious a project as it was for the author, so it...

Pros: An investigation into intelligence via music, art, math and dialogue
Cons: A tough book to plough through unless you are skilled in one area of the book

This book defines an era for geeks. "Godel, Escher, Bach" is an intense look into the concepts of artificial intelligence, recursive programming and their representations in the work of the three men in the title. There is no way to easily...

Pros: a delightful, eye-opening book
Cons: at 700+ very dense pages, a tough read

"Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" is a wonderfully layered book that in turn explores the layers of reality and perception itself. At the heart of its plethora of themes is the idea of isomorphisms, which are created when two...

Pros: Tortoise and Achilles dialogues help with difficult concepts
Cons: "Yields falsehood when preceeded by its quotation" yields falsehood when preceeded by its quotation

Wow. Now I get to give something back to Mr Hofstadter. I could say I'm not worthy but that would be a lie, I'm worthy now. Yes, it has number theory and chaos theory and the great English computer heroes Babbage and Turing. Yes, it made me...

Pros: essential to any library
Cons: may become a bit repetitive

A accumulation of years of study and thought, composed partly, I believe at Indiana university, where Hofstadter once taught. Though a hefty load both in quantity and quality it's a must read for those wishing to not only expand the mind but to break ...

Pros: rich in ideas and insights, funny, useful
Cons: tough going even though fun

A highly entertaining but difficult book which I read shortly after its first publication (early eighties) at a time in my life when I was both receptive to its many ideas and had the time for it (I was a student). It took me at least 2 weeks to get...

Pros: None, maybe, actually nothing.
Cons: I dislike author, very stupid, confusing, stupid when you understand it, royal pain.

I had to read this book for geometry honors. I have to admit that the author is one person I do not want to talk with. Some may say he is a genius, I say it is one guy with a big imagination and too much time, but I don't know the guy so I can't say...