Metamagical Themas
Douglas Hofstadter
12 people recommended it in 10 threads, 2007–2026.
1 commenter pushed back on it — worth reading the threads.
What people on Hacker News said
Just the stuff on self-referential sentences makes it worth reading.
if you read one book of hofstadter's, make it "metamagical themas", a truly engaging collection of his columns for "scientific american".
this book was a game changer for me - I read it in college over a partiularly rainy spring break and its content has changed the way I think about just about everything.
It was perfect for a teenager just learning programming. The bite-sized nature of it makes it extremely approachable - perhaps a case of constraints (periodic column of N words) leading to more creative output.
This book opened my mind on a lot of subjects big time.
This book has taught me more about thinking differently than any other.
Where it comes up
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- Ask YC: favorite books 2007 · 1 recommendation