I loved GEB, but since reading it (and jumping in and re-reading parts here and there when it strikes my fancy) I've come to the conclusion that it's a perfectly laid Dunning-Kruger trap which specifically ensnares people like me. I am not as smart as Hofstadter, and I know it, and so I'll never be sure I've actually understood the meat of the message.<p>I think I get strange loops, recursion, self-reference and the metaphor of the anthill. I still think I'm missing something with breaking the record players, but based on my understanding it's a metaphor for incompleteness.
This seems like one of the first great "Social" ideas I've ever heard. For me, personally of course, facebook, foursquare, social shopping, etc all solve problems I don't have.<p>However a sort of online book group is something that I might like and would solve a real problem I do have. It may be to niche to make a company out of. That said, what sorts of things would a site (platform?) need in order to be successful at creating guided, curated, experiences such as a book group.
This was the last book my grandfather gave me before he passed away a few years ago, in translation to Swedish. Back then I was completely unaware that it is regarded as seminal work.<p>He was an engineer just as I am, but I always admired that his bookshelf was brim full of knowledge from completely different areas, spanning psychology, biology, medicine, art and music.
I've been meaning to review GEB on <a href="http://hn-books.com" rel="nofollow">http://hn-books.com</a> -- great, once-in-a-lifetime book. Kind of a cross between a college course, a game, a puzzle, and the work of a madman.
It's the kind of book you can spend a few days reading or a life time, just like "Zen and the art of motorcycle repair".<p>I've read half of it in 8 years, so maybe it's time to redo the whole process from beginning to end.
This is awesome. GEB has been sitting on my bookshelf for about a year but I never got around to reading it. I'll give it a shot, and it's great to know there's a community out there available for help.
Brilliant way to start the year off. I first got my hand on this book when I was in high school and was bit overwhelmed. I read it again in college, but again, I don't think I really "got it". Getting into a group read/discussion on this book would by simply PERFECT!
hah.. GEB has been staring me down from my top shelf for 5 years now. I wasn't expecting to crack it open until retirement time (20 years from now?) but hey.. maybe i'll speed this up.
careful; some ideas in this book will fuck with you:<p><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/BipolarReddit/comments/l7nij/interesting_humorous_not_tragic_manic_stories/c2qiqlj?context=3" rel="nofollow">http://www.reddit.com/r/BipolarReddit/comments/l7nij/interes...</a>