Thursday, July 5, 2007
I am a Strange Loop
I haven't read Godel, Escher, Bach, but I'm sure going to.
I am a Strange Loop was casually brilliant, disarmingly humorous, bitingly critical, glaringly obvious, and luminously revolutionary. All at the same time.
Douglas Hofstadter is, from what I can tell, a blue blood and a wunderkind. He's got all sorts of examples in the book that read like Thurston Howell the Third describing golf, probably to the Professor, who is plenty smart to see his point, but requires a lot of explaining on some of the finer points.
Now, lest either term be taken derisively, I should clarify. I found most of his stories irritating (with the exception of the ones about his family, which nearly made me cry), and I suspect other people will as well. That being said, I also acknowledge the likelihood that minus any of those experiences, this book would have been less than it is.
The only one of his little tics I think the book could really have done without is the phrase "dear reader." It reads so much like John Bunyan's conclusion in the Pilgrim's Progress that I had a hard time choking it down. Dear writer, please stop!
Having laid out every one of my complaints, I'll now lavish praise in equal measure. This book offers a brilliant alternative to dualism. It's been lovingly set down by an author who is clearly passionate about his topic, and made me passionate as well.
I read the book in a week, though I suspect re-reading it may take a bit longer, I found myself unable to stop on this first reading. Truly a page-turner.
It made me want to go find everything Douglas Hofstadter has ever set down in pixels or paper, and to read it twice.
I give this book an arbitrary five stars out of an arbitrary five. Wow!
I am a Strange Loop was casually brilliant, disarmingly humorous, bitingly critical, glaringly obvious, and luminously revolutionary. All at the same time.
Douglas Hofstadter is, from what I can tell, a blue blood and a wunderkind. He's got all sorts of examples in the book that read like Thurston Howell the Third describing golf, probably to the Professor, who is plenty smart to see his point, but requires a lot of explaining on some of the finer points.
Now, lest either term be taken derisively, I should clarify. I found most of his stories irritating (with the exception of the ones about his family, which nearly made me cry), and I suspect other people will as well. That being said, I also acknowledge the likelihood that minus any of those experiences, this book would have been less than it is.
The only one of his little tics I think the book could really have done without is the phrase "dear reader." It reads so much like John Bunyan's conclusion in the Pilgrim's Progress that I had a hard time choking it down. Dear writer, please stop!
Having laid out every one of my complaints, I'll now lavish praise in equal measure. This book offers a brilliant alternative to dualism. It's been lovingly set down by an author who is clearly passionate about his topic, and made me passionate as well.
I read the book in a week, though I suspect re-reading it may take a bit longer, I found myself unable to stop on this first reading. Truly a page-turner.
It made me want to go find everything Douglas Hofstadter has ever set down in pixels or paper, and to read it twice.
I give this book an arbitrary five stars out of an arbitrary five. Wow!
// posted by David @ 1:55 PM 
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