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Great book! See also "Ask HN: Is "Gödel, Escher, Bach" still worth reading?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7014299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?i

Great book! See also "Ask HN: Is "Gödel, Escher, Bach" still worth reading?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7014299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7014299 where I answered: It is a timeless classic which will draw you in if you give it the chance it deserves. If you find parts to be a bit heavy, you can speed up or slow down per your personal preference. I chose to slow down and read all the more carefully. I feel I was truly rewarded for the effort but believe that hurrying through such parts would be a viable alternative -- certainly better than abandoning the book as often seems to happen. It's my favorite book. I recommend you do try it.

dominotw 12y ago
'Its great just read it' is not a convincing at all. Why is it your favorite book?
- beat 12y ago
  My own answer is that it is the most readable and entertaining text on the actual nature of consciousness - and a marvelous introduction to the processes of actual geniuses as well.
  - dominotw 12y ago
    Sorry for being a pest. If a cutout the hyperbolic adjectives 'most readable', 'entertaining' , 'marvelous introduction' from your sentence. It leaves me with 'text on the actual nature of consciousness'. How did it change your view of human consciousness. How do you define consciousness now after reading this book? Just a couple of lines summary of about consciousness in this book would be good a motivation for me.
    - beat 12y ago
      I'm sorry, but I simply can't give you a neat summary of one of the most profound books I have ever read in a sentence or two. It'd be like saying Hamlet is a play about some dude whose dad died.
- kjhughes 12y ago
  I loved it because it fed my curiosity about how we think while introducing me to related ideas in math, art, and music which have extended my perspective in surprising and entertaining ways. As an undergraduate computer engineering student who aspired to understand intelligence and apply AI, I was delighted to find such an approachable, yet profound, treatment of fundamental ideas that mattered not only to my field but to music and art as well. Decades later, it remains my favorite book.

dominotw 12y ago

'Its great just read it' is not a convincing at all. Why is it your favorite book?

beat 12y ago
My own answer is that it is the most readable and entertaining text on the actual nature of consciousness - and a marvelous introduction to the processes of actual geniuses as well.
- dominotw 12y ago
  Sorry for being a pest. If a cutout the hyperbolic adjectives 'most readable', 'entertaining' , 'marvelous introduction' from your sentence. It leaves me with 'text on the actual nature of consciousness'. How did it change your view of human consciousness. How do you define consciousness now after reading this book? Just a couple of lines summary of about consciousness in this book would be good a motivation for me.
  - beat 12y ago
    I'm sorry, but I simply can't give you a neat summary of one of the most profound books I have ever read in a sentence or two. It'd be like saying Hamlet is a play about some dude whose dad died.
kjhughes 12y ago
I loved it because it fed my curiosity about how we think while introducing me to related ideas in math, art, and music which have extended my perspective in surprising and entertaining ways. As an undergraduate computer engineering student who aspired to understand intelligence and apply AI, I was delighted to find such an approachable, yet profound, treatment of fundamental ideas that mattered not only to my field but to music and art as well. Decades later, it remains my favorite book.