It seems like yesterday that I first discovered Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (GEB).
In college, I had this uber-eccentric roommate who was a certified lunatic and a complete genius. He chain smoked cigarettes, worked on obscure math theories, slept all day and stayed up all night, rigged the CD player to play Led Zeppelin’s ‘Communication Breakdown’ as his alarm clock, and wore all black before wearing all black was something people did. I was fascinated by him and terrified at the same time.
Late one night, I asked him for something to read. He offered me his copy of GEB and cautioned me with these words, ‘be prepared for your life to change.’ Maybe he knew how powerful this book was and was trying to warn me. Naturally, I didn’t believe the hype.
I didn’t know at the time that Douglas R. Hofstadter's book was going to be a giant influence in my life. GEB won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 1990.
Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel.
Perhaps my favorite parts of the book were how each chapter contained brilliant Lewis Carrollesque dialogues between the Tortoise and the Hare which really cemented and linked the materials together.
I have shared this book countless times with others who have all enjoyed the space that is created by this fabulous book.
What books have you read that have made a strong impact on you?
GEB for the win. When I become Emperor of the Universe, I will make it a mandatory read for all sentient beings.
ReplyDeleteThe Stephen Gould books also made a great impact on me, cementing my love and fascination for anything 'evolution'.
Outside math and science, Pauline Kael's essays and movie reviews shaped a lot of my thoughts on cinema.