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jazzy_daveDouglas R. Hofstadter "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" (Penguin)
Fascinating book. The book is centred around recursive auto references; those generates twisted hierarchies, which, according to the author, can explain much about Intelligence, Consciousness, DNA, symbols and meaning. The book spans over Zen and Zenone, Bach and Cage, Escher and Magritte, Gödel and Turing, Cantor and Russell; I loved every-single page. Hofstadter investigates all these aspects (and more even) at very different levels. The auto-references allow him to jump up and down, and move in stimulating vortexes, culminating, right before a Ricercar in 6 voices, in a digression about free will, life and death at various levels.
He takes up many topics that very loosely related, including music, artificial intelligence, genetics, etc. Also, each "serous" chapter is prefaced by an amusing dialogue between Achilles and a Tortoise (from Zeno's "paradoxes') and other droll characters.
In fact this book can have a profound impact on the way a person thinks. It so cleverly challenges ideas and exposes the reader in a very manageable way to various ideas. Though it is not "light reading," I really delighted in the experience of it, realizing what he was doing as I was reading. I wholeheartedly recommend this book!
Fascinating book. The book is centred around recursive auto references; those generates twisted hierarchies, which, according to the author, can explain much about Intelligence, Consciousness, DNA, symbols and meaning. The book spans over Zen and Zenone, Bach and Cage, Escher and Magritte, Gödel and Turing, Cantor and Russell; I loved every-single page. Hofstadter investigates all these aspects (and more even) at very different levels. The auto-references allow him to jump up and down, and move in stimulating vortexes, culminating, right before a Ricercar in 6 voices, in a digression about free will, life and death at various levels.
He takes up many topics that very loosely related, including music, artificial intelligence, genetics, etc. Also, each "serous" chapter is prefaced by an amusing dialogue between Achilles and a Tortoise (from Zeno's "paradoxes') and other droll characters.
In fact this book can have a profound impact on the way a person thinks. It so cleverly challenges ideas and exposes the reader in a very manageable way to various ideas. Though it is not "light reading," I really delighted in the experience of it, realizing what he was doing as I was reading. I wholeheartedly recommend this book!
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