Eli's review of I Am a Strange Loop
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter
Eli's review
rating:
recommended for:
compassionate atheists and people who need to understand how such a concept is possible
status:
Read in April, 2008
Very readable, engaging discussion of potentially difficult but fascinating topics. The overall concept that our sense of "I"ness or self (or soul, as he prefers) is an illusion built up out of a self-referential experiences linked together by memories is not new to me, but there were definitely new aspects that he brought up that shed new light on the hows and whys of it in a purely scientific sense.
I am not a mathematical thinker, so a few of the chapters in the middle dealing with the Principia Mathematica and Godel got a little ponderous for me. The main bulk of the book is more philosophical, if very soundly based in math and physical science. I did feel that occasionally Hofstadter's love of wordplay got a little precious, and sometimes his repetition of the same ideas in different guises were a bit excessive, but that was only in a few places. Overall I really like Hofstadter's approach, though I think I could get more out of an actual conversation with him more t...more
I am not a mathematical thinker, so a few of the chapters in the middle dealing with the Principia Mathematica and Godel got a little ponderous for me. The main bulk of the book is more philosophical, if very soundly based in math and physical science. I did feel that occasionally Hofstadter's love of wordplay got a little precious, and sometimes his repetition of the same ideas in different guises were a bit excessive, but that was only in a few places. Overall I really like Hofstadter's approach, though I think I could get more out of an actual conversation with him more t...more
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