Books of a Certain Ilk

[chrisvia]

By far, my favourite literary treasures are in the vein of Umberto Eco and Borges, be it their fiction or (perhaps more so) their nonfiction. In terms of strictly nonfiction, I look to Douglas Hofstadter (Le ton beau de Marot; Gödel, Escher, Bach) as my sage. Reading works of this stature has led me to all sorts of other books, from Hinton's studies of the fourth dimension and hypercubes to books like Morning of the Magicians for its survey of the bizarre and occult. Essentially, I love works that combine the sublime, the profound, the interesting through a wide range of disciplines (history, science, mathematics, philosophy, literature, etc.).

Aside from the aforementioned, could you kind people here in the LitNet community open my eyes to other works of this ilk?

Many thanks!

[JCamilo]

There is a saying, that Italo Calvino was Borges with a headache...

Not sure what exactly are the ilk that links Borges and Eco, but you can always go after some authors Borges's partner, Bioy Casares or Cortazar...

[chrisvia]

Thanks for the recommendations, JCamilo!

The link between the two, in the context of this thread, is that both produce works that reflect the authors' love of books and knowledge. Many of the writing are, in my opinion, the output of someone who has drunk liberally of the treasures of his library! :-)

[JCamilo]

But then, so it is The Divine Comedy and Don Quixote ;)

[chrisvia]

:) Re-reading my undercooked definition, I realize it applies to pretty much all good literature!

[YesNo]

If you liked "Godel, Escher, Bach", you might like Amit Goswami's "The Self-Aware Universe". I've started both of them and they seem related, but I haven't finished either.

[chrisvia]

If you liked "Godel, Escher, Bach", you might like Amit Goswami's "The Self-Aware Universe". I've started both of them and they seem related, but I haven't finished either.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm ordering it now. Gödel, Escher, Bach is one of my all-time favourites. I'm a computer programmer with an MA in Literature and Writing, so Hofstadter's books really appeal to me.

[YesNo]

If you find something puzzling in the book just post it. I'm stuck on page 109 with the "unconscious perception experiments". Let me know if that section makes sense to you.

I'm also looking for my copy of Godel, Escher, Bach. It should be around here somewhere.

By the way, I used to write procedural interfaces on SQL databases (Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase and MySQL). All of my degrees were in mathematics.

[ennison]

Shouldn't that be the Godel Escher-Bachs. The German record company owned by a brother and sister who ran that seventies electronic techno-rock ban the Slitzundslutz?

[stlukesguild]

Tomasso Landolfi- Gogol's Wife and Other Stories
Augusto Monterroso- Complete Works and Other Stories
Donald Barthleme- 40 Stories and 60 Stories
Jonathan Swift

[chrisvia]

Tomasso Landolfi- Gogol's Wife and Other Stories
Augusto Monterroso- Complete Works and Other Stories
Donald Barthleme- 40 Stories and 60 Stories
Jonathan Swift

Thanks, stlukes! Looking through my library, it looks like I have a copy of Barthleme's 60 Stories. Its reading shall be expedited!

[biblophile]

try the Grand Contraption by David Park. its a book about man kinds attempt to male sense of the cosmos. From early mans ideas of imagined worlds, to modern sciences attempts to map the visible universe. Very interesting indeed.