I Am a Strange Loop | Douglas R. Hofstadter

I Am a Strange Loop | Douglas R. Hofstadter | The human mind is the greatest mistery.

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I Am a Strange Loop

	I Am a Strange Loop Douglas R. Hofstadter Basic Books, 2007 - 436 pages average customer review:based on 78 reviews view larger image
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Brilliant ideas but....

The mixed reviews here for Hofstadter's latest work reflect my mixed feelings about it. I am a HUGE fan of GEB - I read it as an impressionable 15 year old and it kick-started my profound interest in the nature of consciousness. So, as you would expect, I was giddy with excitement when I read the enticing blurb of "I am a Strange Loop" in my local bookstore. I bought it immediately. I was expecting something like a sequel to GEB, but it wasn't quite what I expected.

First of all, IAASL is not another GEB. IAASL is much less technical and much less challenging. A good portion of the book is devoted to Godel's theorem, but it is all discussed in very friendly plain English. Of course, this may be seen as a positive to those who do not have a strong mathematical/computer science background.

Second of all, IAASL is very rich in detailed analogies which serve as "intuition pumps". That is, the analogies lay the foundations (in your brain) for an intuitive understanding of some of the more difficult ideas that Hofstadter tries to articulate. Sometimes entire chapters are devoted to these intuition pumps. You may find all these analogies useful, but if you already have strong intuitions that consciousness has a mechanistic explanation, you may feel that the book is very bloated and verbose.

Third, IAASL is part thesis-on-consciousness, part autobiography. If you'd like to know more about Hofstadter and his life, then you may cherish this feature of the book. If you just want a direct discussion on the nature of consciousness, you may find the digressions into personal details a little bit annoying.

So why have I given this book 4 stars? It's because, despite the flaws (which you may not even see as flaws), I believe this is an important book that should be read by anyone who is seriously interested in understanding what consciousness is, and why it exists. In my opinion, Hofstadter's take on these thorny issues is pure genius and deeply enlightening. However, you must read IAASL (possibly multiple times) with an open mind. If you are a dogmatic dualist, then I doubt you will find the book anything but infuriating and insulting.

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The human mind is the greatest mistery.

The autor leads us into the mistery about what the man really thinks and which are the mental processes those allow that. It no very simple follows the several argument, but the auctor is able to interesting always . The fundamental concept is that, when a theory is related with itself, it borns something as the life.

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