I Am a Strange Loop

I Am a Strange Loop
By Douglas Hofstadter
Basic Books, 2008, 412 pgs. Nonfiction

In I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas Hofstadter says he is trying to state once again the main theme of Gödel, Escher, Bach, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1980. “The central aim of this book is to try to pinpoint the nature of that ‘special kind of subtle pattern’ that I have come to believe underlies, or gives rise to what I have here been calling a ‘soul’ or an ‘I’" (pg 23). How does “I” emerge from the chaos of cells and neurons and chemicals that make up the brain? He explores the question through stories, metaphors, experiences and symbols. This is not a book about neurological science – clearly he thinks that a study of biological processes alone cannot describe what “I” is. How does consciousness become self-aware and able to contemplate its own consciousness?

This is a subtle and interesting book but it is not an easy read. Readers with a religious background will probably find his ethics and his discussion of the soul inadequate. Many readers will find the book interesting as a memoir and for the personal reflections of this brilliant “I”.

SH