Gödel, Escher, Bach

by Agnes F. Vandome (Editor), John McBrewster (Editor)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

For the actual work, please see:
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, described by the author as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll." On its surface, GEB examines logician Kurt Godel, artist M. C. Escher and composer Johann Sebastian Bach, discussing common themes in their work and lives. At a deeper level, the book is a detailed and subtle exposition of concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence. Through illustration and analysis, the book discusses how self-reference and formal rules allow systems to acquire meaning despite being made of "meaningless" elements. It also discusses what it means to communicate, how knowledge can be represented and stored, the methods and limitations of symbolic representation, and even the fundamental notion of "meaning" itself. In response to confusion over the book's theme, Hofstadter has emphasized that GEB is not about mathematics, art, and music but rather about how cognition and thinking emerge from well-hidden neurological mechanisms.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Philosophy, Mathematics, Metaphysics

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2010

About the author

This is the 'editor' of many books based upon Wikipedia articles.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all time favorite book. Geek alert! It is the second time that I have read it. My first was 20 years ago and it still is the best ever. First thing is that I can not believe that anyone could conceive of these ideas and still win the Pulitzer prize for it. Who would read this attempt at tying Bach, Escher and Godel together through the idea of infinite recursion and how it relates to the real world. How does it relate? Thought you'd never ask. First look at life itself. How does DNA have the code for building our bodies, as infinitely complex as they are, yet also DNA is the way that the code is translated into our life? Then there is our intelligence. Why do we have it and the animals don't. Perhaps I don't mean intelligence, but what allows us to be self aware? Infinite recursion could be the answer. There are many more fantastic ideas such as how can we actually perform the reading function. We 'see' characters on a page, combine those characters into words, the words into sentences, which translate instantaneously in our minds to make up ideas that relate to anything that could be in our minds. What a great book and concept. One probably has to be a mathematician or scientist to enjoy this book. However, it is a best seller and a prize winner, so that means many more than that audience appreciates the marvel that this book is.

[Catwalker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know you can't copyright a title, but these editors seem to be intentionally preying on the uninitiated by using the title of a Pulitzer Prize winner. Take care if you intend to read/review Douglas Hofstadter’s book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. This is not that book!

[Eleanor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Impossibly pretentious

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool concept, a nighmare of a book. Couldn’t finish

[Matthew Kading · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time top 10...amazing mind-bending trip into a world where music, quantum physics, mathematics, intelligence, symmetry and the art of MC Escher are fused...along with a healthy dose of modern era philosophy and sociology.

[Rosemary Ward]

A life changing book but not for the short attention span audience! I did not give it a star rating because, frankly, I'm not smart enough to judge this intimidating tome. My head spun. I learned some but failed to grasp more than I'd like to admit.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, well written...perhaps there will be more to this review later?

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some of this. Fascinating. I think it would really open my mind in a good way to read more of it.

[Michael Maksymetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this back in Grad school, I want to read it again

[Manuel Genoves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitivamente, uno de los libros más estimulantes que he leido en mi vida...
Es sencillamente una obra maestra, para aquellos a los que no les de miedo pensar

[Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't understand it thoroughly. Brilliant anyway, the ideas I did understand were enough to change the way I think about some things

[Laura]

DNF