An eternal golden braid 20th anniversary edition with a new preface by the author 20anniversary ed by hofstadter, douglas r isbn. A talk with the most remarkable researcher in artificial intelligence today, douglas hofstadter, the author of godel, escher, bach. Gdel escher and bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science. Douglas hofstadters book is concerned directly with the nat. Godel, escher, bach won the 1980 pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. Indiana university in 1979, a groundbreaking book called godel, escher, bach.
The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 822 pages and is. Douglas hofstadter s book is concerned directly with the nature of maps or links between formal systems. I found my copy used, with withered pages and a somewhat aged spine. An eternal golden braid, first published in 1979, won both the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction and a national book award at that time called the american book award for science. Hofstadter, 9780465026562, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Douglas grew up on the campus of stanford university, where his father was a professor.
Corpelis escher, and a substantial part of his book is dedicated to. Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r. Lets face it, achilles you and i at least in these hofstadterian versions of ourselves come to life only when hofstadter writes dialogues about us. A tangled hierarchy is a hierarchical consciousness system in which a strange loop appears.
Godel, escher, bach is easily my favourite book, and has been for the thirtyodd years since i first read it. Godel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter the strange loop phenomenon occurs whenever by moving upwards or downwards through the levels of some hierarchical system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started. Analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking douglas hofstadter. Borrowing a page from lewis carroll who might well have been a fan of this book, each chapter presents dialogue between the tortoise and achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed. Godel, escher, bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science. Hofstadter, who is an assistant professor of computer science. We had it good in godel, escher, bach, but now that thats over and done with, i have a feeling the pickings are going to be pretty slim.
Godel, escher, bach is the type of book that one is lucky to read once in a lifetime. Hofstadter by looking at the brilliant minds of mathematician kurt godel, graphic artist m. Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r hofstadters godel, escher, bach. Hofstadter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Godel escher bach by hofstadter, first edition abebooks. Ever since its publication in 1979, douglas hofstadters godel, escher, bach. Jul 08, 2008 his new book, as brilliant and provocative as earlier ones, is a colorful mix of speculations with passages of autobiography. The first edition of the novel was published in 1979, and was written by douglas r.
Sep 21, 2011 godel, escher, bach is easily my favourite book, and has been for the thirtyodd years since i first read it. An eternal golden braid, also known as geb, is a 1979 book by douglas hofstadter. Part iv explores its titular issue, mind as program. Martin gardiner nearly thirty years after his bestselling book godel, escher, bach, cognitive scientist and polymath douglas hofstadter has returned to his extraordinary theory of self. It is a book that attempts to discover what self really means.
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. Hofstadter is the son of nobel prizewinning physicist robert hofstadter. An eternal golden braid book online at best prices in india on. Since winning a pulitzer prize in nonfiction for his 1979 book godel, escher, bach. Dec 02, 2012 mit godel escher bach lecture 4 duration. An eternal golden braid is still something of a marvel. The hardcover of the godel, escher, bach by douglas r. Mar 09, 2019 bach, escher and godels strange loops may have the answer in 1979, a cult book by douglas hofstadter explored consciousness via a mathematical idea found in art and music. Douglas hofstadters ai bible, goldel, escher, and bach business.
It won both the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction and a national book award at that time called the american book award for science. Seine kreative arbeit besteht darin, parallelen zwischen johann sebastian bachs musik, maurits cornelis eschers. 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 god. An eternal golden braid it is extremely interesting, then, to think about the meaning of the word form as it applies to constructions of arbitrarily complex shapes. By exploring common themes in the lives and works of logician kurt godel, artist m. Les brins dune guirlande eternelle hofstadter, douglas on. Godel, escher and bach, written by douglas hofstadter, while the title would suggest it is discussion of a mathematician, an artist, and a composer, is a complex examination of how human beings develop perception and meaning. It was written in the spirit of douglas hofstadter s seminal book of the same name that details, abstracts, and illuminates. Recomendaciones basadas en godel, escher, bach douglas r. It is a philosophy book that reads like music, a work of art that many consider second to none.
He exemplifies this by providing examples of loops in backs music, escher s sketches, and godels theorems. May 01, 2019 twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r. 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. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers. Douglas hofstadter is professor of computer science and cognitive science at indiana university. 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. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. However, according to hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. You make decisions, take actions, affect the world, receive feedback.
Godel, escher, bach geb debates the question of consciousness and the possibility of artificial intelligence. The act of reading was a strange bittersweet loop, for as i found my enjoyment and understanding growing throughout, parallel the binding started to. Douglas richard hofstadter is an american scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research focuses on consciousness, thinking and creativity. Every few decades an unknown author brings out a book of such depth, clarity, range, wit, beauty and originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary event. Godel, escher, bach is a great examination of spellbinding contemplations at the center of mental science. More specifically, the book explores, through a series of dialogues and narrations, how symbols, thought and language. An eternal golden braid people enjoy inventing slogans which violate basic arithmetic but which illustrate deeper truths, such as 1 and 1 make 1 for lovers, or 1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 1 the trinity. An eternal golden braid korean paperback 1979 by douglas r.
An eternal golden braid reissue by hofstadter, douglas r. Winner of the pulitzer prizea metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of lewis. Every few decades an unknown author brings out a book of such depth, clarity, range, wit, beauty and originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary. An eternal golden braid geb has been a cult book like hardly. Douglas hofstadter combines and links the various themes associated with the characters in the title and some others in fascinating and imaginative ways.
However, it seems to me that those ideas are all tied on a single question. The man who would teach machines to think the atlantic. It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order. This book stretched my mind more than almost any other book ive read. Intelligence, art, music, and life are a strange loop. Douglas hofstadters book is concerned directly with the nature of maps or links between formal systems. An eternal golden braid by hofstadter, douglas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Escher, and composer johann sebastian bach, the book expounds concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence.
For hofstadter, consciousness emerge as what he calls a strange loop. Armed with wit and ingenuity, he goes about showing off isomorphisms among mathematics, art and music. However, according to hofstadter, the formal system. Alma mater for mcdonnell and douglas of mcdonnell douglas.
Godel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter abebooks. What seth godin said about g del, escher, bach by douglas. It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account hofstadter s law, and meaning lies as much in the mind of the reader as in the haiku. 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.
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