I Am a Strange Loop
Aug 2007 · Sold by Basic Books
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16 reviews
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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.
“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.
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 Th...
Ratings and reviews
16 reviews
Adam Nott
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January 22, 2025
Witty, insightful, punny, and with perhaps too many analogies, this book should be a mandatory read. Or at least the Cliff Notes. While I don't agree with some of the finer details of Hofstader's hypothesis, I concur with his general proposition: the "I" is a consequence of a very capable general tool (the brain) that points its focus at itself, in broad strokes. Sounds reasonable to me! But beyond just being an abridged version of Gödel, Escher, Bach, it is rife with personal anecdotes and a very human and down-to-earth circumstances that make it so much more than a philosophical essay. I am very glad I read it.
Putz Kneader
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June 1, 2024
the very least i can say is this author is extremely unique & i am grateful to have come across their books such as this one...📚💙💭
nick THAquick
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July 4, 2016
Unreal reading...opens your mind to so many different thought processes. This book will change your life.
3 people found this review helpful
About the author
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.
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; “Transla...
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