Gödel, Escher, Bach: for Everyone
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter (1979)
Hofstadter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Gödel, Escher, Bach (called GEB for short), is “A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll”. It is concerned with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems and how they apply to the works of mathematician/logician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C. Escher, and of course Bach. This book is dense and is one to revisit throughout the years. Yes, it is complex. However, there is something in it for everyone and the following guide is a list of resources for every reader while diving into GEB. Existing GEB enthusiasts may enjoy the self-referential nature of this article as it’s a guide to guides. All GEB fans old and new have something to learn from the following resources.
Caption: M.C. Escher’s work Relativity
Listening Guide
This Spotify playlist includes all of the music that is talked about in GEB! It is convenient to keep this playlist open while reading the book.
The Curious: Brian Hayes’ 1979 Review in The New York Times
In 1979, American scientist and author Brian Hayes reviewed GEB for The New York Times. It gives a helpful and succinct overview of the concepts found in GEB.
The Curiouser: Alice in Wonderland
It’s no coincidence that the writings of Lewis Carroll are an integral part of GEB. Carroll and Hofstadter are writing about the same concepts: paradox, riddles, the impossible, infinite loops, and more. Did you know that Lewis Carroll’s real name was Charles Dodgson and that he was a mathematician? The parallels between these two only begin here.
Alice in Wonderland, Illustration by Tenniel
The Scholar: MIT Lectures
While on the journey of reading GEB, check out these MIT lecture videos on the book for guidance. They’re a deep dive.
The Mathematician: The Colossal Book of Mathematics
The Colossal Book of Mathematics collects together Martin Gardner's most popular pieces from his legendary "Mathematical Games" column, which ran in Scientific American for twenty-five years. Topics include GEB, Fractal Music, Time Travel, Games and Decision Theory, Nothing, and Everything.
The Entrepreneur: TEDx Talk
An entrepreneur lives on the edge and thinks outside of the box. Uma Jayaram explains the relevance of GEB to the journey of an entrepreneur in Godel, Escher, Bach & The Entrepreneur.
The Philosopher: Incomplet - The Math of Maya
Breaking Math Podcast dives into self-referential systems and strange loops in their podcast: Incomplet (GEB: an Eternal Golden Braid: Chapter IV Discussion). They chat about paradox, formal systems, axioms in an accessible and engaging way. For example: If you say all Cretans are false, and you are Cretan: if it’s true then what you just said is false, which then makes it true again. Enjoy these mind-bending paradoxes!
The AI Enthusiast: Can AI become conscious?
Marcus du Sautoy examines GEB with a particular question in mind: Can AI become conscious? Read more in this 2019 article in The Guardian.
Johann Sebastian Bach
