a book

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Name: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Rating: 5 (16 reviews)
Author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
ISBN: 9780465026562

Douglas R. Hofstadter · 1999 · 777 pages

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of "maps" or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. 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. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

recommended by 16 people

sourced from public statements

Kevin Kelly
“Over the years, I kept finding myself returning to its insights, and each time I would arrive at them at a deeper level.”↗
Chris Hayes
“The book changed my life! Curious if college-aged students still read it.”↗
Dan Brown
“For anyone interested in the interrelation of different sciences and art forms, this book can be used as an eye-opening appetizer, a main course, or a delicious desert. I’m the son of a mathematician and a musician, so the interrelations were right up my alley.”↗
Santiago Siri
“@owocki whenever i get asked a book to recommend, "gödel, escher, bach" always tops the list in my mind.”↗
Tom Critchlow
“@nickcammarata Godel escher bach is pretty beautiful. IIRC douglass learned typesetting manually to lay out the book just as he wanted it. More recently - this is a wonderful book”↗
Dan Davies
“@t0nyyates @Gilesyb @jdportes Strong recommend. It's also the kind of book you can dip in and out of.”↗
Joanna Rutkowska
“A book about Mind, disguised as treatise on Formal Systems and Reasoning, camouflaged as work on Beauty, ultimately talking about Mind... ❤”↗
Naval Ravikant
A. J. Jacobs
Demis Hassabis
Sahil Lavingia
Steve Jurvetson
David Deutsch
Dan Heisman
Nat Eliason
Scott Young