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| Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid http://forum.hrwiki.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8610 |
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| Author: | putitinyourshoe [ Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid |
Alright, I don't expect this thread to be booming but here goes: has anyone read this book by Douglas R. Hofstadter? It's sometimes called GEB for short and my friend is reading it now. I am planning on buying it soon and will post here as I get through it (but it is supposedly quite arduous and confusing) even if I have to do a little bit of ressurection-action later on. So I welcome any questions, opinions, discussion of the general points of the book, and input from people who may have read or heard of it already. The author talks about the human mind, creativity and other things while drawing parallels amongst the named people in the title. One of his points is to explore consciousness in relation to Godel's Incompleteness Theorem which I only have a hazy understanding of but it kind of says: any theory can never be complete because it must be understood to only work within a certain system, which needs a theory to define that upper system, and so on to the point that no theory can be truly complete because it is only understood to work within a system. Example: gravity makes things fall on Earth. Earth is a system that would be tough to define, but you can define it by what it is in: the galaxy, & c. Thoughts? |
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| Author: | PianoManGidley [ Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:54 am ] |
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Sounds like an interesting read--definately something one of my close friends from college would be into, so I'll see if he's familiar with it. Though I wonder, if the author is discussing the human mind and creativity, why did he choose Bach over, say, Beethoven or Mozart? Was it something to do with the creativity needed to construct such contrapuntal lines as found in Baroque music? Heh...guess I'll have to read it to find out. 
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| Author: | InterruptorJones [ Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:01 pm ] |
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This book has been on my reading list for quite awhile (no seriously, like four years), but my local library doesn't have it and I always forget to look for it at Half-Price Books. I hear good things about it, though, and Hofstadter is an excellent writer. |
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| Author: | putitinyourshoe [ Sat Jun 03, 2006 9:20 pm ] |
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good question gidley. i sort of wonder if the author chose bach because if fit into the GEB:EGB theme well? i'm sure he picked it for a much better reason. too bad i just blew my paycheck so it will be a while before i go buying this book. looks like its gonna be necrophilia with this thread when i do get the book. |
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| Author: | putitinyourshoe [ Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:22 am ] |
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MONTHS LATER.... A DOUBLE POST WILL CHANGE THE FACE OF THE WORLD. AND A THREAD WILL BE REVIVED (probably to be dropped shortly because, really i'm a bit too nerdy sometimes) AND PEOPLE will uh.. see it? so i bought the book, and started reading it. so i'll talk about some big stuff later but for now i'll simply provide the following for the podering minds of forumfolk. a French variation of Carroll's Jabberwocky, translated by Frank L. Warrin. i'll provide the german and english, as well, if people are interested. Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave. Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux Et le mômerade horsgrave. «Garde-toi du Jaseroque, mon fils! La gueule qui mord; la griffe qui prend! Garde-toi de l'oiseau Jube, évite Le frumieux Band-à-prend!» Son glaive vorpal en main il va- T-à la recherche du fauve manscant; Puis arrivé à l'arbre Té-Té, Il y reste, réfléchissant. Pendant qu'il pense, tout uffusé, Le Jaseroque, à l'oeil flambant, Vient siblant par le bois tullegeais, Et burbule en venant. Un deux, un deux, par le milieu, Le glaive vorpal fait pat-à-pan! La bête défaite, avec sa tête, Il rentre gallomphant. «As-tu tué le Jaseroque? Viens à mon coeur, fils rayonnais! Ô Jour frabbejeais! Calleau! Callai!» Il cortule dans sa joie. Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave. Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux Et le mômerade horsgrave. |
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| Author: | Inverse Tiger [ Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:12 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
OK, we officially need to start a posse. I read half this book four point five years ago and was mesmerized by it. But for some reason, half way in right where he gets down to business, I stopped reading. I've always wanted to go back and continue, but haven't had the time. Now I'm not even sure where I left it... Them Jabberwokys were pretty sweet.. and the dialogs between the animals, too. Gidley (from months ago): yeah, I think it's the contrapuntal stuff and the extremely logical/methodical way Bach composed that makes him fit in with Godel and Escher I'm Corey Flintoff |
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| Author: | putitinyourshoe [ Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:25 am ] |
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hofstadter loves playing with bach's use of form within his own use of form during writing. he arragnes his dialogues like canons sometimes and its really rewarding for the reader when you figure out what he's doing before he goes back and explains it to you. i'm still pretty early in the dang book, being that it's quite a massive tome. the math and computer science stuff is rough on me, so that's making it slow goin'. This is Talk of the Nation, and I'm Neil Conan. |
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