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Wondering (Score:2)

by darobin (1316)

I've been wondering about Hofstadter's Gödel Escher Bach for a while, would you recommend it? Any specific comments?

--
-- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]
- Gödel Escher Bach (Score:1)
  
  by robin (1821) on 2002.05.24 10:55 (#8806) Homepage Journal
  
  GEB is a wonderful book! I wouldn't try and read it in one go though. The explanation of Gödel's theorem is pretty good, but if you want to understand it properly you'll need to read the relevant sections carefully and repeatedly. What is really wonderful about it is the exuberance and playfulness. Hofstadter uses punning multiply self-referential dialogues to simultaneously explain and illustrate various points about self reference (and anything else that happened to strike him as interesting and tangentially relevant).
  Talking of big books, I've just ordered Wolfram's magnum opus [wolframscience.com]. I saw it described as a rare blend of monster raving egomania and utter batshit insanity [santafe.edu], which sounds irresistible.
  
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