6 ms·

If your background includes experience dealing with logic, you enjoy wordplay (puns, double entendre, etc.), and you're decent at math then you should have no p

by biot 15y ago

If your background includes experience dealing with logic, you enjoy wordplay (puns, double entendre, etc.), and you're decent at math then you should have no problem sailing through this book at a steady pace. Someone without such a background will likely have a harder time with it, but if that's not you do yourself a favor and pick it up and just start reading. You just might be surprised at how non-daunting it really is. I had to share this as people might get put off by all the claims about how it's so hard. It's really not. It requires patience, logical thinking, a good grasp of language, a "plastic" mind, and no pre-conceptions of what it should be saying. I suspect many here will find it to be a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner that they'll be unable to put down.

Wilduck 15y ago
> I suspect many here will find it to be a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner that they'll be unable to put down. This was not my experience at all. The first few times I tried to read this book, I blocked out a few significant chunks of time to get through it. That never worked. As soon as I set it down (a couple hundred pages in) I wouldn't pick it up again. However, I recently succeeded in finishing it. It took me nine months of reading a few pages in bed each night. The book was enjoyable to fall asleep to. GEB was fun and thought provoking, it taught me something about mathematics and made me think about the nature of consciousness, but it was by no means a page turner. I'd definitely recommend reading it though. And you were spot on with this analysis: > You just might be surprised at how non-daunting it really is [...] It requires patience, logical thinking, a good grasp of language. I'd also add that it helps you _develop_ patience, logical thinking, and a good grasp of language =).
brudgers 15y ago
>"It requires patience, logical thinking, a good grasp of language, a "plastic" mind, and no pre-conceptions of what it should be saying." Or just skipping over the parts that don't resonate. One of the things which is so marvelous about GEB is that it is entertaining on many levels (pun intended) - just looking at the pictures is thought provoking, reading the dialogs is as well, etc. There's something there for everyone - there's no need to quine.

by biot 15y ago

Wilduck 15y ago

> I suspect many here will find it to be a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner that they'll be unable to put down. This was not my experience at all. The first few times I tried to read this book, I blocked out a few significant chunks of time to get through it. That never worked. As soon as I set it down (a couple hundred pages in) I wouldn't pick it up again. However, I recently succeeded in finishing it. It took me nine months of reading a few pages in bed each night. The book was enjoyable to fall asleep to. GEB was fun and thought provoking, it taught me something about mathematics and made me think about the nature of consciousness, but it was by no means a page turner. I'd definitely recommend reading it though. And you were spot on with this analysis: > You just might be surprised at how non-daunting it really is [...] It requires patience, logical thinking, a good grasp of language. I'd also add that it helps you _develop_ patience, logical thinking, and a good grasp of language =).

brudgers 15y ago

>"It requires patience, logical thinking, a good grasp of language, a "plastic" mind, and no pre-conceptions of what it should be saying." Or just skipping over the parts that don't resonate. One of the things which is so marvelous about GEB is that it is entertaining on many levels (pun intended) - just looking at the pictures is thought provoking, reading the dialogs is as well, etc. There's something there for everyone - there's no need to quine.