I think richard hamming would tell me to tell you that. An eternal golden braid, also known as geb, by douglas r. Books so big, like bricks, you could drown yourself in a pool with them if youre not careful. An eternal golden braid by hofstadter, douglas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. An eternal golden braid you might like similar books chaos. A wondrous book that unites and explains, in a very entertaining way, many of the important ideas of recent intellectual history.
Many people count it as one of their very favorite books. Hofstadter, thirty years after its first pubblication. Click download or read online button to get goedel escher bach book now. The story of paul erdos and the search for mathematical truth, i am a strange loop. Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r. There is a bit of circularity to his books, so if you dont get whats going on in the first sweep, youll perceive more further on. Dughof did a number of other books, but not like geb. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Its definitely in my top 10 of books about fairy tales, classical music and mathematical logic. Puzzle and puns are frequently used throughout the book and help in intellectually stimulating the readers minds. This book uses interlinked narratives that take place in the strange circumstances and between unusual characters. Johann sebastian bach and the dutch artist maurits corpelis escher, and a substantial part of his book is dedicated to showing that this is not such an unlikely team of oxen.
It weaves together insights from music, art, mathematics, ant colonies, lewis carroll stories, and more unexpected places into a new understanding of how our minds work and. An eternal golden braid by douglas r hofstadter, here are some books like this. An eternal golden braid 20th anniversary edition with a new preface by the author 20anniversary ed by hofstadter, douglas r isbn. Find books like godel, escher, bach from the worlds largest community of readers. This post is part of a series in which influencers describe the books. An eternal golden braid, also known as geb, is a 1979 book by douglas hofstadter. There has been nothing like it in computer science before or since. I felt a twinge of guiltinadequacy that i didnt have the smarties or persistence to work my way through the entire book, so its nice to see im in good company.
However, the recordplayers in this metaphor dont actually work like record players in. In this list, each chapter of the book is associated with a musical piece that the instructor chose to accompany it. At one level, the book is about a parallel between three people. Amazon description douglas hofstadters book is concerned directly with the nature of maps or links between formal systems. Martin gardner, scientific american in some ways, godel, escher, bach is an entire humanistic education between the covers of a single book. A very personal attempt to say how it is that animate beings can come out of inanimate matter. Commonweal godel, escher, bach was a triumphantly successful presentation of quite difficult concepts for a popular audience. An eternal golden braid is still something of a marvel. The acceleration of just about everything, the mystery of the aleph. It has a youthful vitality and a wonderful brilliance, and i think that it may become something of a classic. Hofstadter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Escher, in particular how their work in music, math and art manages to loop back on itself and express a kind of selfreferentiality. Hofstadters great achievement in godel, escher, bach was making abstruse mathematical topics like undecidability, recursion, and. Then i read godel, escher, bach and realized that i didnt even begin to.
I found the mit course lectures of geb to be quite interesting. I guess the most classic example is the lottery, but id like something in the form of a book rather than a short story. An eternal golden braid pdf is still a miracle today, although it has been on the bestseller list for more than 20 years. It will have you thinking about minds, intelligence, ai, and reality in an entirely new way. Preferably a legal copy, as i would love to read this on my. Critique of a heritage, or douglas hofstadters 1979 godel, escher, bach. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers. An eternal golden braid is a classic text thats had a strong influence on countless people. I love their spines lined up on the bookshelf, staring back at me, waiting. Douglas r hofstadter winner of the pulitzer prize, this book applies godel s seminal contribution to modern mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence. Why i dont love godel, escher, bach infinite negative utility.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the publication of one of the cult books of my generation. Douglas hofstadter combines and links the various themes associated with the characters in the title and some others in fascinating and imaginative ways. Why i dont love godel, escher, bach infinite negative. His previous books are the pulitzer prizewinning godel, escher, bach.
Jul 08, 2008 douglas hofstadter is college of arts and sciences professor of cognitive science and computer science at indiana university, bloomington. Theyve been quite helpful as the instructors make it easy to intuitively understand abstract concepts that may be otherwise difficult to grasp just from reading the book. Goedel escher bach download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Fyodor dostoevskys crime and punishment and andrey belys petersburg in the astonishing translation by john malmstad and robert maguire. I want to like math, but im not very good at it and it makes me feel stupid. Godel, escher, bach was a triumphantly successful presentation of quite difficult concepts for a popular audience.
Apr 17, 2020 two books came to me as a lifechanging pair in a course on the russian novel. 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 welllit chambers ordinary books provide. In these instances, what may appear to be simple lists in fact offer a hint of irony or paradox in a. Jul 20, 2012 there are many ways to read geb including attempting to divine the authors own subsequently stated intent. A history, a theory, a flood, the man who loved only numbers. One classic version of the tricolonic book title takes the form of a brief list of names, as in jacques barzuns 1941 darwin, marx, wagner. This is the wrapup video for the six month of the book club. I became friends doug in 1975 as he was writing the book.
Godel, escher, back contains many ideas in different areas. This month we read godel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter. He exemplifies this by providing examples of loops in backs music, escher s sketches, and godel s theorems. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Jul 04, 2018 i first read godel, escher, bach when i was about 20, while i was an undergraduate, and its important to note that i was doublemajoring in computer science and linguistics, and had a particular love of formal systems and logic, but was also proudly a generalist, and had a longstanding love of literature and music. For hofstadter, consciousness emerge as what he calls a strange loop. Hofstadter was the most challenging nonfiction book that i have ever read. 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. Everybodys favorite is the concept of entropy, a measure of disorder in thermodynamics. The book godel, escher, bach geb is an imaginative exploration of the nature of consciousness, as seen through the metaphorical lenses of mathematician kurt godels selfreferential logic, artist m. Godel, escher, bach is a great examination of spellbinding contemplations at the center of mental science. I have never seen this, but i would love it if one were made. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want.
Not including notes, my version of the book contained 737 very dense pages. An eternal golden braid was published by penguin uk in 2000. It explores the question of whether computers will ever be able to think like people. The implications of recursion and godel s theorem are so broad that you will come away from this book never seeing the world the same way again. Escher, and composer johann sebastian bach, the book expounds concepts fundamental to. Intelligence, art, music, and life are a strange loop. This month we read godel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter this is a fantastically weird and wonderful book. Aug 18, 2009 mit godel escher bach lecture 1 duration. However, it seems to me that those ideas are all tied on a single question. Mathematics, the kabbalah, and the search for infinity, mind and nature, the act of creation. Godel escher bach is one of the most complex books neil and i have ever read. Godel escher bach by hofstadter, first edition abebooks. I dont particularly care for dennetts writing as a philosopher.
By exploring common themes in the lives and works of logician kurt godel, artist m. Could you please suggest books which will help me deal with this or at least understand it better. I have found two different pdf versions and both have many typos which make understanding certain chapters impossible. An eternal golden braid book online at best prices in india on. I read in bed and dont really want a book about math, a programming language, or development methodologyi love such books. An eternal golden braid from the worlds largest community of readers. Both are strange crime stories set in that most fantastical of all cities, st. Really enjoyed reading this several years ago now recently rediscovered it.
I have been searching everywhere for an ebook or pdf of godel escher bach. Its a venerated book among a certain stripe of computer scientist and mathematician, and its reputed to have inspired generations of people to pursue the study of logic and artificial intelligence. More recently books like godel, escher, bach and sapiens have influenced my thinking a lot. Goodreads members who liked godel, escher, bach also liked. Like a kidnapping victim who falls in love with his captor, these books. Please select ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway. Is it still worth reading godel, escher, bach by douglas r. Godel, escher, bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science. Ernest davis, ieee expert i have never seen anything quite like this book. Jan 05, 2014 the bach still stands on its own, but the fact that the book can only talk about it and the reader is still on their own in so far as experiencing the music goes, and an appreciation for bach is both the part of the book that took the longest to develop and the part which has stuck with me the longest. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern, the information. Escher, and composer johann sebastian bach, the book expounds concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence. 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 godel. Godel, escher, bach is easily my favourite book, and has been for the thirtyodd years since i first read it.
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