Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Rating:
Summary: A Crystal Bead
Review: In honor of the 20th anniversary, I put up a review I wrote 11 yearsago, for a school assignment:

When I am feeling that life is pointlessor unwondrous, I read Douglas Hofstadter's =Godel, Escher, Bach=; timeand time again, this book leaves me in awe over the interconnectednessof several "unrelated" subjects, over order arising fromapparent chaos. This book made me regain my faith in and admiration ofthe beauty of math, art, music, and the universe -- the beauty that isalmost never shown in a class or revealed in a "scholarly"work; after reading it, the isolation of those subjects from the restof the conceptual world seems simply ludicrous. Each time in reading Iam challenged to discover more connections, more self-references, moremeaning in the several subjects presented. In short, reading this bookis like a religious experience for me -- I love it.

From GEB:"The Buddhist allegory of 'Indra's Net' tells of an endless netof threads throughout the universe...At every crossing of threads isan individual and every individual is a crystal bead. The great lightof 'Absolute Being' illuminates and penetrates every crystal bead;moreover, every crystal bead reflects not only the light from everyother crystal in the net -- but also every reflection of everyreflection throughout the universe."

Hofstadter's book is theperfect example of one of those crystal beads; Hofstadter portrays (or"reflects") several subjects in his work, e.g., formalsystems, Zen, moplecular biology, the art of fugues and canons, modelof the brain, various geometries, number theory, Holismvs. Reductionism, and much more, and then shows the"reflections" of the subjects in one another -- truly alarge task. For the most part, he comes across quite well; hisdialogues which encapsulate and discuss ideas to be presented, his"dogmaps" which outline parallel ideas and "map"them onto one another, and his relatively simple language enable himto communicate his ideas quite easily. However, this book is quiteweighty -- almost 800 pages long, full of digressions andperspective-blowing ideas; many ideas and underlying themes must besought out within the dialogues, many open-ended questions are leftfor the reader to ponder. If you aren't used to flexible or abstractthinking, and you don't want to work very hard in reading, this bookisn't for you.

GEB is an unique "nonfiction" book -- it doesnot address one subject, or even several "closely related"subjects. Even though published in 1979, many parts deal with researchstill going on today [this is still true in 2001, as it was in1990]. For example, Hofstadter presents a possible model for a brainto be used in artificial intelligence in computers -- one of manymodels being studied today in that field. In one short section, hepresents recursive graphs that were generated in theoreticalexperiments -- graphs that bear some similarity to the modern study offractals. Especially in the area of computer science, Hofstadterleaves several goals for people to attain -- goals that may never berealized, but perhaps goals that will enlighten us as we seek toattain them.

The ideas in this book shall live long past its authorr;I can say no more but that the people who awarded the Pulitzer Prizeto this book made no mistake.

Rating:
Summary: Dilettantish, but may be good for teenagers
Review: I would certainly have been facinated by this book if I had read it soon after it appeared but not 20 years later. There is a lot inside to stimulate the imagination of a teenager. Unfortunately, for anyone with a formal education in some of the subjects touched upon, it is too clear that the work was written by a passionate dilettante.

Rating:
Summary: Eternal Golden Braid - Finally, Truth in Advertising!
Review: Science and art have never been less accessible. They have become obscure private languages, requiring rites of initiation and proficiency in coding and decoding. But while art has largely remained the preserve of an elite - science has been popularized by both its practitioners and a host of talented observers and reporters. The reason is that science is all-pervasive while art is still a museum thing. In the genre of popular science there is nothing that comes close to this book. It combines music and literature with formal logic and computer science. It is poetic while being rigorous, breathless without deteriorating to pseudo-science. In short: a masterpiece. The book strives - and succeeds - to demonstrate that ostensibly disparate phenomena like ant colonies, Bach's music, the structure and functioning of the brain, and programming languages - have more in common than we imagine. Uncovering these strains of similarity and strands of common order is done in a systematic but highly entertaining manner. The book is as taut as a thriller and as fun as "Alice in Wonderland" that it so often quotes. A treat untouched by the almost three decades that elapsed since it was first published. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".

Rating:
Summary: A momument of literature...
Review: I'm not great at this review writing thing, so I'm wary of whether I can do justice to this book. But it amazed me so much I feel inclined to contribute to the praise.

There's no way to accurately categorize GEB. At some points it appears to be a book on music, at others it delves into number theory, in some chapters it provides information on Zen, and later it appears to be an essay on artificial intelligence. The remarkable beauty is that Hofstadter somehow ingeniously links everything. The book is filled with subtle links to previous ideas as well as future ones.

Granted, the book is difficult to read. Hofstadter frequently poses questions or puzzles without answering them, and you'll find yourself having to reread previous passages to understand new ideas. But this keeps you thinking, something you must do to get through this 800 work of art.

Between each chapter is a dialog between two characters, Achilles and the Tortoise. These dialogs are analogies to help introduce future topics, as well as entertaining stories. They could be a book by themselves.

Hofstadter's writing is incredibly deep, sometimes entertaining, and frequently amazing. Consider the chapter "Crab Canon" - it's identical line for line backwards and forwards, yet the meaning changes. It's just one of the many themes in the book - symmetry, self-reference, recursion, and meaning.

I just don't know how to explain it. This book will change the way you think, literally. It is an awe inspiring work by an awe inspiring author. All I can say is buy it, you'll be amazed.

Rating:
Summary: What is it?
Review: I read this book several years ago, and again recently. I did not find it the masterpiece that it is touted to be. The explication of the Incompleteness Theorems, unlike Gödel's paper, is very mystifying. Most of the reviewers, while awarding many stars to this book, admit their own mystification, and, surprisingly, cite this as rationale for the book's depth! If you really want to understand the Incompleteness phenomenon in arithmetic, and how it is tied to recursive axiomatizability, look elsewhere. Most textbooks on mathematical logic are better, and less pendantic.

On the other hand, I did not dislike the book. It reminds one of the kind of discourse that occurs when the acid is mellow and infused with some speed. Interesting, but without many ramifications for real life. And there are many, many other books of greater charm and import, that will never come close to obtaining the Pulitzer.

Rating:
Summary: Perfection.
Review: _Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ is a beautiful, engaging, interesting, deep, and, uh, eternal book. Although its appeal is to a limited market (IMO, almost all with NT (rational) temperament (Search for _Please Understand Me II_ above) will enjoy this. Many probably will not get why he delves into complex systems so much, but either way, you're better off reading it.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars
Review: I read this book mostly in the bathroom one summer at a Governor's School program. It became my favorite non-fiction book. This is a beautiful book.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Done,
Review: This is a unique book written by an even more unique author. If you are one who likes to dwell on the big idea of this world this is the book. Like a modern day Pythagoras, the author shows how mathematical properties or themes are expressed in various media. The title shows it is mainly concerned with the underlying relationship in the works of Godel, a mathematician, Escher, an artist, and the composer, J.S. Bach. This book also intertwines a host of other fields to demonstrate the same underlying concepts are prominent in such areas as the genetic coding, fractals, computer language, logic and philosophy. This is definitely a book that will leave an impression. The author, Douglas R. Hofstadter has developed well thought out concepts. He demonstrates a deep and intimate knowledge in many diverse fields. Only a modern Renaissance person could realize the connections and write this book. Heraclitus should have said you cannot read the same book twice. I read this book in the early eighties and it astounded me. I had the same impression reading it twenty years later. Although this book is well written, because of the subject matter it is not always light reading. It is helpful to have a pencil ready to work out the logic problems. The artwork must be viewed and the related concepts considered. A second reading of this book has spurred me onto purchasing his other books.

Rating:
Summary: got to help get the average rating up to 5 stars
Review: One of the most amazing works of art and science ever created. Beautiful and funny (in an esoteric way), mind-stretching, and soul-building. I would be a different person if I had not read this book.

Rating:
Summary: THE BOOK ITSELF IS A BRAID
Review: One of the examples of this book is about a typewriter who writes how to build another more complex typewriter...and the second one writes how to build another more complex typewriter...and so on. This example is used by Hofstadter to explain how genetic code works. His book shares that same principle; "Silly" stories trigger answers to many different things because of the parallel with them that any reader can find. This is not a book to read fast; concepts and ideas flow at a pace that it is required to close the book before your head explodes...but, later, you'll go back to read it.

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