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I think I'm most interested in works with a clearly mathematical, complex, multi-layered structure or language usage. Like the experiments of Georges Perec [1],
by marttt 6y ago
I think I'm most interested in works with a clearly mathematical, complex, multi-layered structure or language usage. Like the experiments of Georges Perec [1], for example.
I wonder how would reading this kind of stuff actually stimulate our brain, as compared to solving coding or maths puzzles.
E.g. the book linked above, Perec's "Life: A User's Manual", was "heartly recommended" by Don Knuth [2].
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life:_A_User%27s_Manual https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life:_A_User%27s_Manual
2: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/retd.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/retd.html
- jimmyvalmer 6y agoPeople such as yourself get a hard-on about Godel, Escher, Bach. Myself? If I want to learn about basic number theory and recursion, I'll google it. Verbosity is an existential threat.
- berlinquin 6y agoGEB is pretty dense. Comparing GEB to short stories by Borges, I feel like Borges is able to capture the same ideas (recursion, infinite permutations) in a more engaging way and at a fraction of GEB's length.
- jimmyvalmer 6y agoOr... just read about fixed point recursion. It's hard enough hitting a nail on the head, much more so when you've limited yourself to a socket wrench for its "abstract, literary" qualities.
- marttt 6y agoThis is anecdotal, can't find the reference, but I think Hofstadter himself later considered "I Am a Strange Loop" (2007, a mere 412 pages) a better explanation of the ideas he had laid out in GEB.
- pjc50 6y ago> Verbosity is an existential threat. .. maybe I likes the verbosity? Asteroids are an existential threat. Verbosity is a style that some people enjoy.