' What is a self & how can a self come out of inaminate matter?' This is the riddle that drove Hofstadter to write this extraordinary book. Linking together the music of J.S. Bach the graphic art of Escher & the mathematical theorems of Godel as well as ideas drawn from logic biology psychology physics & linguistics Douglas Hofstadter illuminates one of the greatest mysteries of modern science: the nature of human thought processes. ' Every few decades an unknown author brings outa book of such depth clarity range wit beauty & originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary event. This is such a work'
- Martin Gardner.