3 ms·

I hate to gripe, but it's kind of disappointing that I can't get my hands on an ereader/Kindle edition.

by jgroome 15y ago

mdiep 15y ago
Absolutely. I read GEB in high school, and have often thought of reading it again, but it's a hefty book to carry around. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see an eBook edition too soon. Hofstadter describes himself somewhere (in the GEB preface, maybe?) as very picky about the layout of his books. I remember him saying that he would sometimes rewrite sentences in order to make the layout better.
- ugh 15y ago
  He describes in some later edition how he typeset the book himself which is in itself a towering achievement (with him not being a typesetter and all).
  - RockofStrength 15y ago
    Hofstadter cares a lot about form, and thinks it is intimately connected to function. I believe in the end of "I Am a Strange Loop" he said that he edits every single line of text so it fits evenly and aesthetically across the line. In other words, each line must stretch to the far right of the page, but the letters can't be stretched out/separated too much. This must be extremely tedious to accomplish.
    - eru 15y ago
      Prof. Knuth made up a formula for such beauty.
    - Create 15y ago
      ...and this is also true for all the translations of the book that I came across.
TylerE 15y ago
Have to disagree. Given the nature of the book, preserving the format and illustrations are VERY important. It wouldn't translate at all. In fact, the author feels so strongly about that they he has insisted the original 1979 typset he prepared be used for all subsequent editions, to exactly preserve the formatting.
- theon144 15y ago
  Not having read the book, may I ask why is the formatting (not the illustrations, that's kind of obvious) so important?
  - TylerE 15y ago
    Well, for one there are a fair number of equations, which ebook readers are going to struggle with. Plus there are "structural puns" which depend on lines aligning and breaking in a certain fashion. Here's an example page from Amazon's preview: http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8082/screenshot20120118at147.png http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8082/screenshot20120118at14... Note the musical extract, the heavy use of blockquotes, etc. It's pretty much a worse case for an ereader. PS: I'll admit I'm a bit late to this party, as I just bought my copy for the Reddit readthrough, and it's the first actual dead-tree book I've bought since my Kindle. I too was annoyed at first by the lack of a ereader version, but after reading the first few pages of the intro I couldn't imagine reading it any other way. This is a VERY dense book where I often find myself flipping back a page or two to reference earlier material.
    - JonnieCache 15y ago
      Here's another good example of the funky typesetting: (the pencil marks obviously arent in the original) http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksx9yp5KRO1qznraho1_500.png http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksx9yp5KRO1qznraho1_500.pn... It's also a great example of the mindbending trick-prose hosftadter gleefully employs through the book. EDIT: Here's another: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksjw79NLay1qznraho1_500.png http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksjw79NLay1qznraho1_500.pn...
    - 15y ago

I hate to gripe, but it's kind of disappointing that I can't get my hands on an ereader/Kindle edition.

by jgroome 15y ago

I hate to gripe, but it's kind of disappointing that I can't get my hands on an ereader/Kindle edition.

mdiep 15y ago

Absolutely. I read GEB in high school, and have often thought of reading it again, but it's a hefty book to carry around. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see an eBook edition too soon. Hofstadter describes himself somewhere (in the GEB preface, maybe?) as very picky about the layout of his books. I remember him saying that he would sometimes rewrite sentences in order to make the layout better.

ugh 15y ago
He describes in some later edition how he typeset the book himself which is in itself a towering achievement (with him not being a typesetter and all).
- RockofStrength 15y ago
  Hofstadter cares a lot about form, and thinks it is intimately connected to function. I believe in the end of "I Am a Strange Loop" he said that he edits every single line of text so it fits evenly and aesthetically across the line. In other words, each line must stretch to the far right of the page, but the letters can't be stretched out/separated too much. This must be extremely tedious to accomplish.
  - eru 15y ago
    Prof. Knuth made up a formula for such beauty.
  - Create 15y ago
    ...and this is also true for all the translations of the book that I came across.

TylerE 15y ago

Have to disagree. Given the nature of the book, preserving the format and illustrations are VERY important. It wouldn't translate at all. In fact, the author feels so strongly about that they he has insisted the original 1979 typset he prepared be used for all subsequent editions, to exactly preserve the formatting.

theon144 15y ago
Not having read the book, may I ask why is the formatting (not the illustrations, that's kind of obvious) so important?
- TylerE 15y ago
  Well, for one there are a fair number of equations, which ebook readers are going to struggle with. Plus there are "structural puns" which depend on lines aligning and breaking in a certain fashion. Here's an example page from Amazon's preview: http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8082/screenshot20120118at147.png http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8082/screenshot20120118at14... Note the musical extract, the heavy use of blockquotes, etc. It's pretty much a worse case for an ereader. PS: I'll admit I'm a bit late to this party, as I just bought my copy for the Reddit readthrough, and it's the first actual dead-tree book I've bought since my Kindle. I too was annoyed at first by the lack of a ereader version, but after reading the first few pages of the intro I couldn't imagine reading it any other way. This is a VERY dense book where I often find myself flipping back a page or two to reference earlier material.
  - JonnieCache 15y ago
    Here's another good example of the funky typesetting: (the pencil marks obviously arent in the original) http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksx9yp5KRO1qznraho1_500.png http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksx9yp5KRO1qznraho1_500.pn... It's also a great example of the mindbending trick-prose hosftadter gleefully employs through the book. EDIT: Here's another: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksjw79NLay1qznraho1_500.png http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksjw79NLay1qznraho1_500.pn...
  - 15y ago