oceanlistener's review
2.0
Are you wondering how Douglas Hofstadter feels about things? His opinions about how his musical tastes make him a better person? The way he thinks his dead wife is alive inside his brain? His fascination with visual byproducts of old video cameras? Then this is the book for you!
Are you looking for sickeningly twee little cutie-pie straw man thought experiments? Perhaps chock-full of rhymes and alliteration? Look no further!
Looking for a serious discussion of the brain, consciousness, or anything related to science or mathematics? Better skip it, because this is not the book you're looking for.
Are you looking for sickeningly twee little cutie-pie straw man thought experiments? Perhaps chock-full of rhymes and alliteration? Look no further!
Looking for a serious discussion of the brain, consciousness, or anything related to science or mathematics? Better skip it, because this is not the book you're looking for.
sumzaal's review
4.0
3.5? This book is very Hofstadter. Looping in on itself, mystical, but not really. Emotional, but the state of the self making copies of others is not the same as low level copies. But maybe I'm locked into one way of seeing this. I do keep copies of my friends and enemies in my head. So there is that. But I don't give them the kind of carte blanche that Doug did for his wife. And I don't think the separation of soul from soul teleported is that hard to reason out. But I get his riff. A good thought experiment. Not 3.5... 4.
shawnwhy's review
5.0
WOW this is an amazing experience!!!! the reductionist search for the self is usually a horrifying experience, but when led by a grown-up kid of a mathematician disciple of Pushkin, its a delightful experience and turns the hollow center of the self into a call for connected-ness. Hofstadter takes the viewer to experience the self experiencing the self by using both mathematics and interaction of verbal symbols. This even ends like Eugene Onegin, very delightful
bwhitetn's review
5.0
What is the thing I call myself, the "I" when I say, "I ..."? The self, consciousness, animate/inanimate. All covered in the odyssey of fact and fictional dialogue characteristic of Hofstadter and his classic Godel, Escher, Bach.
reading_owl's review against another edition
I have read autobiographies containing fewer personal anecdotes.
einarwh's review
2.0
Wh-what is this? Douglas Hofstadter writing a parody of a Douglas Hofstadter book?
I loved GEB when I read it several years ago, and I enjoyed both Metamagical Themas and The Mind's I as well, but this self-obsessed book about self is quite awful. The writing style and incessant mannerisms completely overshadow whatever message the author is trying to convey - unless that message really is "I'm a pompous, condescending, self-satisfied snob in love with my own puns and witticisms". In any case, it's clear that the author finds himself infinitely more "droll" than I do.
Sadly, for me, reading "I am a Strange Loop" has threatened to retroactively ruin the experience of having enjoyed the author's other books - or at least cast a shadow of doubt over those memories. About halfway through the book it seems Hofstadter just lost track completely and started rambling and repeating himself, in between measuring soul sizes (finding his own to be rather large) and dismissing other viewpoints than his own as naive and childlike. And when he started complaining about the smugness and vanity of some performers' interpretations of Bach in the last chapter of the book, it created a roaring feedback loop of irony that made my brain explode.
I loved GEB when I read it several years ago, and I enjoyed both Metamagical Themas and The Mind's I as well, but this self-obsessed book about self is quite awful. The writing style and incessant mannerisms completely overshadow whatever message the author is trying to convey - unless that message really is "I'm a pompous, condescending, self-satisfied snob in love with my own puns and witticisms". In any case, it's clear that the author finds himself infinitely more "droll" than I do.
Sadly, for me, reading "I am a Strange Loop" has threatened to retroactively ruin the experience of having enjoyed the author's other books - or at least cast a shadow of doubt over those memories. About halfway through the book it seems Hofstadter just lost track completely and started rambling and repeating himself, in between measuring soul sizes (finding his own to be rather large) and dismissing other viewpoints than his own as naive and childlike. And when he started complaining about the smugness and vanity of some performers' interpretations of Bach in the last chapter of the book, it created a roaring feedback loop of irony that made my brain explode.
emeraldimp's review
3.0
It's a fine argument and idea, but did he need 400 pages to say it? More than once I was like, "Oh god, another allegory".
saccade's review
4.0
Another amazing read by Hofstadter and a true successor to Gödel, Escher, Bach. His thesis and philosophy about strange loops and the nature of consciousness are much clearer this time around. And although the middle sections are mathematically complex and the analogies are somewhat far-fetched, the payoff is well worth it.
libbum's review
2.0
An exploration of consciousness by a prominent scholar in the field & an educational background similar to my own -- what's not to like? Well, for me, that was 'most of it' unfortunately.
The book was a slog to get through. I put it down about half way in and it took some time to come back and finish it of. I don't think that it was the subject matter; but the content, context and story telling that killed it.
VCRs, marbles, record players: I'm not that young that these things are before my time. For a book written in 2007 however these references still seem dated. That, for one was something that didn't mesh with me. Second: Hofstadter's heroes are not my heroes - and it seems you need to have a deep understanding of certain nuances & mannerisms of particular musicians that play Bach in the 'correct' way to gain a modicum of understanding of what consciousness is based on these tales. Third: dialogues between individual loops within a person, when you're having issues connecting with that individual are perhaps the least effective manner to get a point across I could think of.
There were so many examples that rubbed me the wrong way, many of which already by 2007 had strong rebuttals or counter evidence against the positions posited herein. As an example, a lengthy discussion about the colors red and blue concludes that categories within individual's minds may be different, but these differences can be remapped through dialogue. This is a serious surface skim and doesn't reflect even the most common findings concerning color perception of the times [see Friedman & Miyake, JEP: Gen, 133 (2004) for example].
A story concerning two universes with one robot that was conscious, and another where it was not, but mimicked what should be conscious behaviour: a child was scoffed at for showing empathy to a robot with no 'real' feelings. This is ridiculous. Since Hofstadter has a thing for antiquated phrases, "Don't cry over spilled milk" resonates here. One can show emotions about non-animate objects, let alone 100% convincing representations of animate ones.
Putting all of this aside even, nothing in the book was new to me. It was far more "memoirs and tidbits of an interesting career & the joys and sadness that a life brings" than a deep dive into consciousness.
The book was a slog to get through. I put it down about half way in and it took some time to come back and finish it of. I don't think that it was the subject matter; but the content, context and story telling that killed it.
VCRs, marbles, record players: I'm not that young that these things are before my time. For a book written in 2007 however these references still seem dated. That, for one was something that didn't mesh with me. Second: Hofstadter's heroes are not my heroes - and it seems you need to have a deep understanding of certain nuances & mannerisms of particular musicians that play Bach in the 'correct' way to gain a modicum of understanding of what consciousness is based on these tales. Third: dialogues between individual loops within a person, when you're having issues connecting with that individual are perhaps the least effective manner to get a point across I could think of.
There were so many examples that rubbed me the wrong way, many of which already by 2007 had strong rebuttals or counter evidence against the positions posited herein. As an example, a lengthy discussion about the colors red and blue concludes that categories within individual's minds may be different, but these differences can be remapped through dialogue. This is a serious surface skim and doesn't reflect even the most common findings concerning color perception of the times [see Friedman & Miyake, JEP: Gen, 133 (2004) for example].
A story concerning two universes with one robot that was conscious, and another where it was not, but mimicked what should be conscious behaviour: a child was scoffed at for showing empathy to a robot with no 'real' feelings. This is ridiculous. Since Hofstadter has a thing for antiquated phrases, "Don't cry over spilled milk" resonates here. One can show emotions about non-animate objects, let alone 100% convincing representations of animate ones.
Putting all of this aside even, nothing in the book was new to me. It was far more "memoirs and tidbits of an interesting career & the joys and sadness that a life brings" than a deep dive into consciousness.
diegopetrucci's review against another edition
5.0
Il libro seguito a Godel Escher Bach che spiega con più chiarezza (e più, uhm, prosa) l'idea di coscienza e dell'"io" di Hofstadter. Una pietra miliare, anche questo.