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byquist
01-10-2006, 06:19 PM
Who's read this book with a lot of pages?

What'd you like most?

" " " least?
Xamonas Chegwe
01-10-2006, 06:48 PM
One of my favourite works of non-fiction.

I probably liked everything about it except the time and effort it took to get proficient enough in TNT to follow some of the later arguments.

I think my absolute favourite thing was the simultaneous translation of "Jabberwocky" into French & German and the explanation of the processes involved that followed.

If I have a criticism, it would be that a few of the dialogues get stale on the 3rd or 4th rereading - but I suppose you don't have to read it 4 times like I did, do you?

I have also read "Metamagical Themas" and "The Mind's I" and have "Le Ton Beau de Marot" on my to buy list. The first 2 are both worth a read but not quite in the class of GEB (except in flashes).

The 3rd is an entire book on Hofstadter's theories of translation, using the mental processes involved to expand his theories of human intelligence. It involves several translations of a single 16th century French poem into English, by different human and computer translators.

And stop press! He's got a new book out this year - "I am a Strange Loop." I found it checking the title of the Marot book on Amazon. My to buy list just got a book longer.
byquist
01-12-2006, 11:57 AM
Thanks for background info. I just ordered it off amazon. Noticed it also had a few pages about Zen that looked interesting. I saw it briefly on a Math teacher's bookshelf at a high school, along with A Brief History of Time by that Hawking genius guy. Wonder why he favors Bach over Mozart who's everyones' dandy (The Mozart Effect).
onions
02-14-2006, 10:42 PM
Just want to see my registration results :)
Xamonas Chegwe
02-15-2006, 02:24 PM
Thanks for background info. I just ordered it off amazon. Noticed it also had a few pages about Zen that looked interesting. I saw it briefly on a Math teacher's bookshelf at a high school, along with A Brief History of Time by that Hawking genius guy. Wonder why he favors Bach over Mozart who's everyones' dandy (The Mozart Effect).

I think that when you read the book, the reason he chose Bach will be apparent. Enjoy it. There's nothing else quite like it.