Douglas richard hofstadter is an american scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research focuses on consciousness, thinking and creativity. He is an american author who has written several books about philosophy, mathematics, and science. Click download or read online button to get goedel escher bach book now. An eternal golden braid pdf is still a miracle today, although it has been on the bestseller list for more than 20 years. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. I became friends doug in 1975 as he was writing the book.
It weaves together insights from music, art, mathematics, ant colonies, lewis carroll stories, and more unexpected places into a new understanding of how our minds work and. Escher and composer johann sebastian bach, the book expounds concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence. Winner of the pulitzer prize and the national book award. Its a venerated book among a certain stripe of computer scientist and mathematician, and its reputed to have inspired generations of people to pursue the study of logic and artificial intelligence. In the musical offering, bach includes an inscriptions whose first letters combine to. An eternal golden braid 20th anniversary edition with a new preface by the author 20anniversary ed by hofstadter, douglas r isbn. Godel escher bach by hofstadter, first edition abebooks. In some ways, godel, escher, bach is an entire humanistic education between the covers of a single book. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 822 pages and is available in paperback format.
A very good or better copy, with some dust spotting to boards. Godel, escher, bach is easily my favourite book, and has been for the thirtyodd years since i first read it. Written by douglas r hofstadter, godel, escher, bach. Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r. See all 11 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. Intelligence, art, music, and life are a strange loop. Hofstadter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.
At one level, the book is about a parallel between three people. An eternal golden braid isbn 9780465026562 isbn 0465026567 including delivery cost and availability. I predict a eschfr in our understanding of consciousness will not come from a philosopher, or a neuroscientist or a psychologist eschfr from a computerscientist who once read geb i read that in college and met a few times with a math prof to. It gives rise to mind blowing mathematical results of goedel, hypnotic images in escher, the beauty of bach but its not really about them, they are just demonstrations of the phenomena, the real message is that selfreferential rules and information processing are the essence of computation, the core of language and most likely, the underlying. 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. What do one mathematician, one artist, and one musician all have in common. By looking at the brilliant minds of mathematician kurt godel, graphic artist m. G del, escher, bach is a pulitzer prizewinning treatise exploring patterns and symbols in the thinking of mathematician kurt gdel, artist m. The implications of recursion and godel s theorem are so broad that you will come away from this book never seeing the world the same way again. There are many ways to read geb including attempting to divine the authors own subsequently stated intent.
Winner of the pulitzer prizea metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of lewis carrolldouglas hofstadters book is concerned directly with the nature of maps or links between formal systems. Godel escher bach is one of the most complex books neil and i have ever read. It will have you thinking about minds, intelligence, ai, and reality in an entirely new way. Escher, in particular how their work in music, math and art manages to loop back on itself and express a kind of selfreferentiality.
An eternal golden braid is an intellectual treatise on the ways by which thinking and cognitive abilities. 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. There has been nothing like it in computer science before or since. An eternal golden braid is still something of a marvel. Douglas hofstadter combines and links the various themes associated with the characters in the title and some others in fascinating and imaginative ways. A groundbreaking book that has set the standard for interdisciplinary writing.
Commonweal godel, escher, bach was a triumphantly successful presentation of quite difficult concepts for a popular audience. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between. The main characters of this science, non fiction story are. Hofstadter, 9780465026562, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. An eternal golden braid is an intellectual treatise on the ways by which thinking and cognitive abilities emerge from logical constructions. An eternal golden braid is a classic text thats had a strong influence on countless people. A very personal attempt to say how it is that animate beings can come out of inanimate matter. 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. A wondrous book that unites and explains, in a very entertaining way, many of the important ideas of recent intellectual history.
This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Godel, escher, bach paperback an eternal golden braid. Goedel escher bach download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the.
The book explores the common topics that are encountered by exploring the lives of three famous personalities, namely kurt godel, johann sebastian bach. Bach geeft douglas hofstad ter een briljante interpretatie van drie genieen. This particular book is his most famous one, about strange loops, selfreference, and recurring patterns, partially shown through the works of the three people in its title. This book stretched my mind more than almost any other book ive read. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. This is the kind of mental freedom you will gain by reading this book. So, for my next visit to a desert island, give me sun. Its tough at parts, its long, but youll come out of it thinking about brains, minds, intelligence, and ai in an entirely new way.