A Philosopher's Perspective on Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (#1)

On Christmas my nephew received the gift of a copy of Gödel, Escher, Bach (GED) from a family friend. My nephew is 19 years old and in his first year of college. GED was first published in 1979 and my nephew's new copy featured a 1999 20th Anniversary Edition introduction by its author Douglas Hofstadter. In the new introduction Mr. Hofstadter notes that there have been many misinterpretations of what the book is meant to be about and then attempts to set the record straight - a not impossible, but difficult task.

Hofstadter's need to write a new introduction explaining his earlier work is not unprecedented. Kant wrote his Critique of Pure Reason which caused so much confusion and disagreement that he had to write an explanation of his work years after its initial publication. Rather than write a new introduction, Kant wrote his Prolegomena To Any Future Metaphysics in an effort to clarify the purpose and meaning of his earlier work. And so in this tradition Hofstadter rewrote his introduction.

I can remember getting a copy of the book when it first came out and found it difficult to plow through. In all honesty, I didn't get far. I did speak with an old college friend at the time (a physics major and medical doctor) who had found it a wonderful read and who proudly pronounced that he had worked out all the puzzles in the book. After listening to him I was convinced that the book was beyond me and I never picked it up again.

Well, I spent a few minutes reading bits of the new introduction to my 94 year old mother on Christmas day who politely nodded her head as if she was following along. Everybody else left the room. Upon reflection, I'm beginning to think that my mother may have actually understood what I was reading to her about Hofstadter's intention in writing the book. I won't attempt here in a few words to address his intention (the new introduction is not short). However, I did get enough sense myself from my reading of a few paragraphs that this is a book I should try to read one more time.

And so, I have ordered a copy of the 20th Anniversary Edition of GED for myself. One more time into the breach!

Stay tuned.