Lessons of Gödel, Escher, Bach
How cool is this. MIT Open Courseware offers a class called Gödel, Escher, Bach: A Mental Space Odyssey. It is an entire course geared around Douglas Hofstadter’s book Gödel, Escher, Bach.
This is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read; it’s a true masterpiece. I first encountered it in high school. Ostensibly it’s a gorgeous web interconnecting art, mathematics and music, but that’s actually instrumental to the book’s true purpose. Quoth Wikipedia:
Hofstadter has emphasized that GEB is not about mathematics, art, and music but rather about how cognition and thinking emerge from well-hidden neurological mechanisms.
And now MIT offers a free class geared around this book, using it as a kind of textbook, bracketed with a syllabus and class notes in PDF. All this for free. Wow. Props to the instructors, Justin Curry and Curran Kelleher, and to MIT for providing this to the world gratis.
I would love to take that course! I read GEB as a kid, then again as an adult, and it was even more fascinating. I think it’s a must for any math lover or artist.
@veryvanessaknits After I posted this to Reddit, it motivated a group of people to get together and take the class starting (I believe) January 17th. http://www.reddit.com/r/geb