I Am a Strange Loop

I Am a Strange Loop - Paperback

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I Am a Strange Loop
  • I Am a Strange Loop
I Am a Strange Loop - Paperback

I Am a Strange Loop - Paperback

by Douglas R. Hofstadter
$21.99
$21.99

Book Overview

by Douglas R. Hofstadter (Author)

One of our greatest philosophers and scientists of the mind examines where the self comes from - and how our selves can exist in the minds of others.

"I Am a Strange Loop is a work of rigorous thinking, but it's also an extraordinary tribute to the memory of romantic love:  The Year of Magical Thinking for mathematicians." ―Time

Deep down, your brain is a chaotic seething soup of particles. On a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol is the one you call "I." An "I" is a strange loop where the brain's symbolic and physical levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down so that symbols seem to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse.

To each human being, this "I" is the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real? Is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does "I" exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the all-powerful laws of physics?

These are among the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since his Pulitzer Prize-winning Gödel, Escher, Bach. It is a tale crisply told, rife with anecdotes, analogies, and metaphors - cutting-edge philosophy that any strange loop can understand.

Author Biography

Douglas R. Hofstadter is College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gödel, Escher, Bach; Metamagical Themas; Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies; "Translator, Trader"; and most recently, Ambigrammia: Between Creation and Discovery.  He translated Alexander Pushkin's novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin from Russian verse into English verse, and has also translated books from several other languages into English.

Number of Pages: 436
Dimensions: 1.14 x 9.08 x 6.19 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: July 08, 2008
ISBN9780465030798
Author Douglas R. Hofstadter
PublisherBasic Books
GenreEducation and Philosophy
FormatPaperback
PublishedJuly 2008
LanguageENG- English
Pages436
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Nonfiction Philosophy Science

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More by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

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Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Paperback

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About Douglas R. Hofstadter

Douglas R. Hofstadter is College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Cognitive Science and Computer Science at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he also directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition. He is the author or co-author of nine books, including I Am a Strange Loop and Surfaces and Essences, and has contributed to ten more. He lives in Bloomington.

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