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I Am a Strange Loop Hardcover – March 26, 2007

by Douglas R. Hofstadter (Author)

177 customer reviews

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What do we mean when we say "I"? Can thought arise out of matter? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop"--a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human 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 in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." The "I" is the nexus in our brain where the levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down, with symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. For each human being, this "I" seems to be the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does an "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 the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since Godel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter's many readers have long been waiting for.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2007: Pulitzer-Prize winner Douglas Hofstadter takes on some weighty and wonderful questions in I Am a Strange Loop--among them, the "size" of a soul and the vagaries of thought--and proposes persuasive answers that surprised me both with their simplicity and their sense of optimism: a rare combination to be found in a book that tackles the mysteries of the brain. This long-awaited book is a must-have for avid science readers and navel-gazers. --Anne Bartholomew
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hofstadter—who won a Pulitzer for his 1979 book, Gödel, Escher, Bach—blends a surprising array of disciplines and styles in his continuing rumination on the nature of consciousness. Eschewing the study of biological processes as inadequate to the task, he argues that the phenomenon of self-awareness is best explained by an abstract model based on symbols and self-referential "loops," which, as they accumulate experiences, create high-level consciousness. Theories aside, it's impossible not to experience this book as a tender, remarkably personal and poignant effort to understand the death of his wife from cancer in 1993—and to grasp how consciousness mediates our otherwise ineffable relationships. In the end, Hofstadter's view is deeply philosophical rather than scientific. It's hopeful and romantic as well, as his model allows one consciousness to create and maintain within itself true representations of the essence of another. The book is all Hofstadter—part theory, some of it difficult; part affecting memoir; part inventive thought experiment—presented for the most part with an incorrigible playfulness. And whatever readers' reaction to the underlying arguments for this unique view of consciousness, they will find the model provocative and heroically humane. (Mar.)
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Product details

Hardcover: 436 pages
Publisher: Basic Books (March 26, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465030785
ISBN-13: 978-0465030781
Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 177 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #538 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Consciousness & Thought
- #779 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Cognitive
- #1434 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

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177

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Top customer reviews

Possibly my favorite book ever

ByAmjad Masadon July 7, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Couldn't put it down. Great style. Explains the hardest thing to explain in the world by using intuition pumps, personal stories, mathematics, and analogies. Builds up a repertoire of entities that stay with you the whole book getting enriched every time they're called back to illustrate a point.

Hofstadter must really hate mosquitos.

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Enjoyable and Insightful

ByPlayingThePonzion October 29, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The clever and insightful articulation of a concept that is not easily articulated: the emergence of Self. As I understand his view, Self emerges as a higher-level concept from lower-level self-referencing loops. It seems to me that his view of the Self ties pretty cleanly into view commonly found in modern neuroscience, psychology, and even many mystical religious conceptions of Self (although he would probably argue, perhaps rightly, that there is nothing especially 'mystical' about those views in light of recent discoveries).

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Not fully clear

ByGil Rothon May 9, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Actually I do not know what is he talking about. It started very interesting specially those chapters about Godel theorem. After that he lost me.

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The Loop theory is applicable to many

ByGlen Aaronon May 6, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Well written. Concise. Clear.It takes you into a new paradigm that gets the mental juices flowing. Thanks Hofstadter for new thinking.

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Amazing!

ByLeroy Yueon November 2, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Amazing! A bit beyond me from the middle, but I will find time to read it.

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A thrilling romp in loop space.

ByHankon March 26, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Wow! This is way over my head, going to have to read it again. It's a fascinating journey into what you mean when you say "I", with some arcane side-trips into Principia Mathemetica and Godel's incompleteness theorems. Read it, if you have the guts. Then read it again, because you won't understand it the first time around.

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which I soaked up with great interest many years ago

ByAmazon Customeron May 1, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Hofstadter elaborates on the metaphysical revelations of Godel, Escher, Bach, which I soaked up with great interest many years ago. This is more than a follow-up. It explores concepts lucidly and accessibly, combining humor and personal, autobiographical elements from the perspective of an older and wiser professor.