Books by Douglas Hofstadter
“It’s a dense book but it’s very playful. It’s hard to describe. It’s part history, part puzzles, and a lot of philosophy. His goal is to try to explain how a bunch of lifeless atoms can create consciousness. He uses all sorts of interesting metaphors. The atoms are like a colony of ants. The atoms in our brain are like meaningless letters, but you put them together and they gain meaning. There’s the idea that when you boil it down, some things are just axiomatic and don’t make sense except within the system. Part of the book is dialogues between Achilles and a tortoise. So it’s a very strange book but it’s full of delightful little nuggets.” Read more...
A. J. Jacobs, Journalist
“I have no hesitation at all about this book because it’s got so many absolutely classic papers in it.” Read more...
The best books on Consciousness
Susan Blackmore, Psychologist
“Douglas Hofstadter is famous for being a mathematician who is interested in patterns. In Le Ton Beau de Marot he is taking patterns you find in language and showing how weird and wonderful they are. He is trying to get an idea of how the finite resources there are in each language can somehow express a vast diversity of meaning. He does this through interesting examples. One of the most powerful is when he tries to understand the nature of Russian without learning Russian.” Read more...
The best books on The History and Diversity of Language
Nicholas Ostler, Linguist
Interviews where books by Douglas Hofstadter were recommended
The best books on The History and Diversity of Language, recommended by Nicholas Ostler
The scholar of language tells us about the progress of the spoken word from 3000 BC to today, how two languages disappear every month, and the 50,000-word novel written without using the letter “e”
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1
Consciousness Explained
by Daniel Dennett -
2
Principles of Psychology
by William James -
3
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
by Julian Jaynes -
4
The Mind's I: Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul
by Daniel Dennett & Douglas Hofstadter -
5
Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life
by Peter Godfrey-Smith
The best books on Consciousness, recommended by Susan Blackmore
The best books on Consciousness, recommended by Susan Blackmore
The ‘hard problem’ of consciousness – of how the physical matter of the brain produces the psychological phenomenon of consciousness – has dogged psychologists and neuroscientists for decades. But what if we’ve been posing the question incorrectly all this time? The psychologist Susan Blackmore discusses five key texts that tackle this quicksilver concept.
The Best Puzzle Books, recommended by A. J. Jacobs
In a quest to solve every puzzle imaginable, bestselling author A. J. Jacobs came across a lot of books. Here, he recommends some of his favourites, from logic puzzles to treasure hunts, from codebreaking to the biggest puzzle of them all—why we’re here.
Favorite Books, recommended by Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett is not only one of the most distinguished philosophers of mind working today, he also writes great books. As he publishes his memoir, I’ve Been Thinking, he talks us through some of the books that most influenced him, including two by evolutionary biologists.
