I just started reading Douglas Hofstadter's "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid". It had been on my "to read" list for a while now, and I finally broke down and bought it when I was in the bookstore the other night. I'm not a very quick reader to begin with, but I'm finding it to be quite a dense read... I've had a couple of long subway rides since starting it, and I've only managed to get through the preface (which Hofstadter added for the 20th anniversary edition) and the overview which is basically a bunch of one paragraph chapter synopses. A couple people have already asked me what the book is about... and so far, I can't really tell them. Hofstadter does, in the preface, lay out what he thinks the book is about and mentions that over the last 20 years, the book has been misinterpreted many times. I won't try to lay out his thoughts on the book, as it would likely become yet another in the long line of misinterpretations ... but ... for those of you unfamiliar with the book, it is a discussion of what he calls "strange loops" (such as self reference) in everything from mathematical models to art to language.... but I'm not saying that's what the book is about (lest Douglas Hofstadter should come here and smite me).
-KDH
p.s. I made the ö by cutting and pasting from another page... I don't actually know how to make them with my (clearly insufficient) keyboard
p.p.s. No antics or capers with Kristin yet... I'll keep you posted!
2 comments:
i loved that book. it is really dense - it did take me forever to read. i think about four months or more.
It's one of those books that I keep meaning to read again (I read it once) because, even after finishing it I wasn't really sure what it was about, but I knew I liked it.
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