Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by: Douglas R. Hofstadter
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Amazon.com Review:
Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. It also looks at the prospects for computers and artificial intelligence (AI) for mimicking human thought. For the general reader and the computer techie alike, this book still sets a standard for thinking about the future of computers and their relation to the way we think.
Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Borrowing a page from Lewis Carroll (who might well have been a fan of this book), each chapter presents dialogue between the Tortoise and Achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed later in more detail. Allusions to Bach's music (centering on his Musical Offering) and Escher's continually paradoxical artwork are plentiful here. This more approachable material lets the author delve into serious number theory (concentrating on the ramifications of Gödel's Theorem of Incompleteness) while stopping along the way to ponder the work of a host of other mathematicians, artists, and thinkers.
The world has moved on since 1979, of course. The book predicted that computers probably won't ever beat humans in chess, though Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. And the vinyl record, which serves for some of Hofstadter's best analogies, is now left to collectors. Sections on recursion and the graphs of certain functions from physics look tantalizing, like the fractals of recent chaos theory. And AI has moved on, of course, with mixed results. Yet Gödel, Escher, Bach remains a remarkable achievement. Its intellectual range and ability to let us visualize difficult mathematical concepts help make it one of this century's best for anyone who's interested in computers and their potential for real intelligence. --Richard Dragan
Topics Covered: J.S. Bach, M.C. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence.
Product Description:
This groundbreaking Pulitzer Prize-winning book sets the standard for interdisciplinary writing, exploring the patterns and symbols in the thinking of mathematician Kurt Godel, artist M.C. Escher, and composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. It also looks at the prospects for computers and artificial intelligence (AI) for mimicking human thought. For the general reader and the computer techie alike, this book still sets a standard for thinking about the future of computers and their relation to the way we think.
Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Borrowing a page from Lewis Carroll (who might well have been a fan of this book), each chapter presents dialogue between the Tortoise and Achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed later in more detail. Allusions to Bach's music (centering on his Musical Offering) and Escher's continually paradoxical artwork are plentiful here. This more approachable material lets the author delve into serious number theory (concentrating on the ramifications of Gödel's Theorem of Incompleteness) while stopping along the way to ponder the work of a host of other mathematicians, artists, and thinkers.
The world has moved on since 1979, of course. The book predicted that computers probably won't ever beat humans in chess, though Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. And the vinyl record, which serves for some of Hofstadter's best analogies, is now left to collectors. Sections on recursion and the graphs of certain functions from physics look tantalizing, like the fractals of recent chaos theory. And AI has moved on, of course, with mixed results. Yet Gödel, Escher, Bach remains a remarkable achievement. Its intellectual range and ability to let us visualize difficult mathematical concepts help make it one of this century's best for anyone who's interested in computers and their potential for real intelligence. --Richard Dragan
Topics Covered: J.S. Bach, M.C. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence.
Product Description:
This groundbreaking Pulitzer Prize-winning book sets the standard for interdisciplinary writing, exploring the patterns and symbols in the thinking of mathematician Kurt Godel, artist M.C. Escher, and composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Great, Excellent, Breathtaking
Hofstadter takes some very difficult concepts in logic, mathematics, and computing and makes them much more than understandable - he makes them enjoyable. Self-reference, completeness, paradox, artificial intelligence - if you have the courage to approach it at all, you might as well have fun doing it. Read Godel, Escher, Bach. By the way, MIT OpenCourseWare has two courses available (free!) on this book - one at university level and one at high school level. They make great companions to the book. ... Read More
Rating: - An involving, mind-expanding experience.
Most people will miss the point of this book. I certainly did in High School. Despite its highly interesting mix of philosophy, artificial intelligence, music, art and mathematics, this book is not really ABOUT any of these things, at least not primarily. This is a book that truly explains how something as complex and sophisticated as human consciousness (really, consciousness of any sort) could be built out of relatively small components.
Hofstadter proposes neither a big picture nor microscopic ... Read More
Rating: - GEB: EGB puts the I in Intelligence
GEB: EGB is basically an exploration of the idea of intelligence, artificial and otherwise. Hofstader's goal is to shed some light on how intelligence / consciousness / self-awareness happens. I would call him a materialist, in the sense that he believes that there is a physical basis for thoughts, feelings and emotions. He is dismissive of "soulists," who believe that there is some sort of inexplicable metaphysical aspect to consciousness.
The question, in Hofstader's mind, is, "If the human brain ... Read More
Rating: - FAB: FAB And Brilliant
Life-Changing. Read it in sophomore year of high school, am rereading it now, late senior year. Just as good the second time. -Eric Frank
Rating: - One for the Proverbial Deserted Island
If there was one book I was allowed, it would be this, even if I don't understand it - and that is why I would take it to an eternal isolated spot (or even prison) - it would take me years of mental gymnastics to figure out.I would be entertained.The book is worth every bit of the Pulitzer it got.
- Great, Excellent, BreathtakingHofstadter takes some very difficult concepts in logic, mathematics, and computing and makes them much more than understandable - he makes them enjoyable. Self-reference, completeness, paradox, artificial intelligence - if you have the courage to approach it at all, you might as well have fun doing it. Read Godel, Escher, Bach. By the way, MIT OpenCourseWare has two courses available (free!) on this book - one at university level and one at high school level. They make great companions to the book. ... Read More
- An involving, mind-expanding experience.Most people will miss the point of this book. I certainly did in High School. Despite its highly interesting mix of philosophy, artificial intelligence, music, art and mathematics, this book is not really ABOUT any of these things, at least not primarily. This is a book that truly explains how something as complex and sophisticated as human consciousness (really, consciousness of any sort) could be built out of relatively small components.
Hofstadter proposes neither a big picture nor microscopic ... Read More
- GEB: EGB puts the I in IntelligenceGEB: EGB is basically an exploration of the idea of intelligence, artificial and otherwise. Hofstader's goal is to shed some light on how intelligence / consciousness / self-awareness happens. I would call him a materialist, in the sense that he believes that there is a physical basis for thoughts, feelings and emotions. He is dismissive of "soulists," who believe that there is some sort of inexplicable metaphysical aspect to consciousness.
The question, in Hofstader's mind, is, "If the human brain ... Read More
- FAB: FAB And BrilliantLife-Changing. Read it in sophomore year of high school, am rereading it now, late senior year. Just as good the second time. -Eric Frank
- One for the Proverbial Deserted IslandIf there was one book I was allowed, it would be this, even if I don't understand it - and that is why I would take it to an eternal isolated spot (or even prison) - it would take me years of mental gymnastics to figure out.I would be entertained.The book is worth every bit of the Pulitzer it got.
