Rating: 
Summary: Captivating
Review: This book will snare you, captivate you and turn you into a geek, even if you don't want to be a geek.
Rating:
Summary: Still a Joy!
Review: Brilliant, insightful, clever, mind-opening! This is still one of my favorite reads of all time. The subject matter is enormous and complicated, but so skillfully presented that you find yourself wanting to dive in for more.
Rating: 
Summary: Science, math, music, thought and some really bad jokes
Review: I first tried to read GEB aged about 24. I did stunningly badly at maths and science in school (failed Maths, Physics *and* Applied Maths) and had never taken an interest in that kind of thing - but I did like Bach, and had just met my first computer geek friends. It has to be said that for the utter novice, Hofstadter is wonderful at making his subject matter seem not just interesting but vital, accessible and beautiful. He leads you into the knotty topic of logic via some brilliantly conceived exercises, and his explanations of how all this stuff knits together are dense but totally clear. If any book made me ashamed of not knowing more about maths, logic, computer science and AI, and yet also enabled me to find out, it's this one. And for somebody who had always been allergic to such topics, that has to be good. It's truly an incredible feat of thought and imagination. So why didn't I give it five stars? Cause, in many ways, I'm a small, mean-minded individual. My quibble with Hofstadter - and I *know* this is pathetic, given the kind of creative leap necessary to conceive a volume like this one - is that his sense of humour, exemplified in the, erm, humorous dialogues that punctuate the discursive chapters, is, well, sort of, ponderous. I'm well aware that he wanted to make the book *show* what he meant as much as *say* it. But I find the dialogues clever, rather than genuinely funny or illuminating (Borges would have understood that it's better to *describe* this kind of textual game-playing than actually carry it out). I'm not entirely convinced by some of Hofstadter's theories about the nature of consciousness (particularly after having read Andrew Hodges' wonderful biography of Alan Turing) and hence I find some of his propositions about AI a bit dubious. But what do I know? I'm a lit guy poking around the edge of a subject I know very little about. The only thing I feel qualified to speak out about loud and bold are the literary qualities of the book. There's an excess of cuteness. I could've used more salt. (I also don't really buy Hofstadter's reasons in the preface to the new edition about why he didn't bother to revise the text - surely a few hundred footnotes would have been a great boon, but then I speak as a lover of footnotes.) Don't let that put you off. If you're a professional scientist, philosopher or musician you *might* be disappointed. If you're none of these things, then this is probably the ultimate popular science book of the past 30 years. It deserves a place on the coffee table of every thinking person.
Rating:
Summary: It hurts my brain!
Review: This book is so, so excellent. It's good for you, because by making you feel ignorant and stupid, it keeps you humble. It tired out my brain quite quickly, not because it was hard to read, but because the content makes you think! I really recommend this book. It's about (I know what it's about because for this 20th anniversary addition, DH writes an intro explaining what it's about) how self-referencial systems behave, including the human brain. But of course, there are massive digressions. DH is playing with you in places, just for fun. I really like the sharpness of this, the cool logic of it, the playfulness, and of course the challenge! The other thing is that I never really appreciated Escher's art until I got my hands on this book.
Rating:
Summary: What a cool cover pic, eh?
Review: Some guy in a coffee shop asked me what I was reading and what it was about, and I stumbled around alot as Hofstadter predicted. Though I have a mathematical and computer background, I found the book to be both elementary and difficult in certain parts. Once he gets his notation going, it's like yeah yeah, I get the general idea, no need to make me pull out the whiteboard. I will say that I learned more about the structures of classical music reading this book than I did in any music appreciation class I've taken.
Rating:
Summary: My brain melted
Review: When I got to the part where he fully explains the Incompleteness Theorem, my brain melted a little. You will learn many new concepts from this book even if you've been in the sciences for a long time. The mix of Achilles and Tortoise stories, the biography of Bach and the technical explanations of his compositions, communication theory, formal grammars, word play, Escher art... this book truly is "an intellectual Grand Tour of hacker preoccupations" as the Jargon File describes it! A must read for anyone interested in a layman's book on cognitive science and machine language. And did I mention it's FUN!
Rating:
Summary: a supreme effort, but very difficult
Review: The Pulitzer Prize for this work was very well deserved I am sure. The thesis and exposition requires exhaustive support, and the author has gone to considerable lengths to provide it. I would also suggest to a potential buyer that musical literacy would be very helpful before delving deeply into this material. To be painfully honest, I was unable to complete this book in spite of having the best of good intentions. This, alongside Robert Eisenman's study of James, the Brother of Jesus, are the most intellectually taxing books I have ever seen. If someone offers you this book as a gift, which happened to me, you should consider it a very high compliment. The author has insights to offer on almost every page and even a partial reading will be very worthwhile. For those who love Bach, it will be indispensable. Most strongly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The BOOK
Review: What can you say about a book like that? It is the BOOK. A rigorous, but not boring, path through the bases of logics. Since the first time I read, almost twenty years ago, it had no way to gather dust on my bookshelf, you can always find the opportunity to peek some subjects from it.. The most vivid explanation of what a formal system is, and the first time I met the word "fractal". A strong and beautiful structure, connecting Western and Eastern philosophies, computer science and math, physics and complexity. The best example of how Science and Art can be seen as the same thing.
Rating:
Summary: Way out of my comfort zone, but still great.
Review: I'm here to witness that even people as seriously math-challenged as I am can participate in this wonderful book. It took me a *long* time to read-- I flipped back and forth, beat the pages up, asked my more math-oriented friends for help. I spent forever trying to solve the MU exercise. It was worth it. I still feel like I understood parts of it only in intuitive flashes, but those flashes showed me a room more interesting than most of the well-lit chambers ordinary books provide. Reading Godel, Escher, Bach is like joining a club. People who see you reading it will open spontaneous conversations and often gift you with unexpected insights. (I had a fascinating conversation with a total stranger about Godel's theorem.) Wish I could give more than five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Indescribably brilliant
Review: This is one of the most fantastic books ever written. It represents a kind of "unified theory" of math, art and music. In some ways, Hoffstader reminds me of Joyce's Ulysses in terms of the way he uses text to model a different form. In fact, Joyce writes a chapter which is a textual "fugue" just the way hoffstader does. Yes, this is a very dense book with lots of profound thoughts on art, math and music (and philosophy), but I guarantee that you'll find it interesting. Don't read it on a short airplane ride -- read it when you have some time for a deeper read. I read it years ago and look forward to re-reading it again since I have yet to find a book anything like it. Quite an achievement -- this is one to pick for the proverbial desert island.
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