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It's been about 2 years I think since I did that. Skip the Socratic dialogs basically. I think the course I linked is the same one I went through. He covers it

It's been about 2 years I think since I did that. Skip the Socratic dialogs basically. I think the course I linked is the same one I went through. He covers it in the first video. Also once you get through the other parts, the Socratic discussions are easy to come back to. You just don't end up in nowhere taxed with his presentation before you really find the book.

stan_rogers 8y ago
Well, if you forget about the fact that Aunt Hillary is the thesis, I suppose.
rspeer 8y ago
Wow, I would recommend exactly the opposite. If you wanted a dry statement of Hofstadter's philosophy, you could read I Am A Strange Loop, but GEB is remarkable for its form, including the dialogues.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  Eh, worked for me! YMMV. I couldn't do the dialogs until I got through the rest. I also enjoyed IAASL a bit more than I enjoyed GEB. Definitely not saying what helped me figure the book out is what everyone should do.
  - rspeer 8y ago
    I guess this just goes to show there's a variety of reasons people enjoy Hofstadter's work. Hofstadter, introducing IAASL, said something like: "I wrote this book because people got so distracted by the form of GEB that they didn't get the point I was making." My reaction: "I understood the point, I just didn't care about it as much as everything else that was happening in GEB." Kind of similar to my appreciation of Bach himself, in fact. The content of Bach's compositions is frequently about praising God, which has no particular relevance to me. But the form and aesthetics of Bach are wonderful.
iafisher 8y ago
> Skip the Socratic dialogs basically. I agree, except make sure not to skip the SHRDLU [1] one, which isn't actually Hofstadter's writing at all, but a demo of the SHRDLU system which is fascinating and should not be missed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHRDLU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHRDLU

stan_rogers 8y ago

Well, if you forget about the fact that Aunt Hillary is the thesis, I suppose.

rspeer 8y ago

Wow, I would recommend exactly the opposite. If you wanted a dry statement of Hofstadter's philosophy, you could read I Am A Strange Loop, but GEB is remarkable for its form, including the dialogues.

stuntkite 8y ago
Eh, worked for me! YMMV. I couldn't do the dialogs until I got through the rest. I also enjoyed IAASL a bit more than I enjoyed GEB. Definitely not saying what helped me figure the book out is what everyone should do.
- rspeer 8y ago
  I guess this just goes to show there's a variety of reasons people enjoy Hofstadter's work. Hofstadter, introducing IAASL, said something like: "I wrote this book because people got so distracted by the form of GEB that they didn't get the point I was making." My reaction: "I understood the point, I just didn't care about it as much as everything else that was happening in GEB." Kind of similar to my appreciation of Bach himself, in fact. The content of Bach's compositions is frequently about praising God, which has no particular relevance to me. But the form and aesthetics of Bach are wonderful.

iafisher 8y ago

> Skip the Socratic dialogs basically. I agree, except make sure not to skip the SHRDLU [1] one, which isn't actually Hofstadter's writing at all, but a demo of the SHRDLU system which is fascinating and should not be missed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHRDLU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHRDLU