Scaling issues and patterns, and their impact on the shape of life. Martin gardner october 21, 1914 may 22, 2010 was an american popular mathematics and popular science writer, with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of lewis carroll, l. Hofstadter the renowned cosmogonist profes sor bignumska, lecturing on the future of the universe, had just stated that in about a billion years, ac cording to her calculations, the earth would fall into the sun to a fiery death. A wideranging book collated from articles written by the author for his column in scientific american. It consists of a collection of his columns from scientific american which were written under the same title, alternating with postscripts which expand on the columns and link them together. Sage reference the complete guide for your research journey. Scientific american is the essential guide to the most aweinspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the. The books homepage helps you explore earths biggest bookstore without ever leaving the comfort of your couch. Hofstadters collection of quirky essays is unified by its primary concern.
In 1981 he gradually took over martin gardners column in scientific american, mathematical games, which he renamed metamagical themas, an anagram the same letters arranged in a new order of the original title. Metamagical themas is a collection of eclectic articles written for scientific american during the early 1980s by douglas hofstadter, and published together as a book in 1985 by basic books isbn 0465045669 the subject matter of the articles is loosely woven about themes in philosophy, creativity, artificial intelligence, typography and fonts, and important social issues. A collection of the metamagical themas column form scientific american with responses, additions and some articles never published. Since 1900, thomas scientific has been providing the latest in laboratory supplies, laboratory equipment, laboratory instruments, laboratory chemicals and laboratory safety to the science community. Narendra modi, scientific american, techcrunch india. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern paperback douglas hofstadter author. Joel uckelman bought this domain name and is using it to host nomic games and useful nomic tools. In this entertaining and provacative book named after his recent column in scientific american, douglas hofstadter persents a dazzling array of observations and ideas about how we perceive and think.
Classic puzzles, paradoxes, and problems whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, klein bottles or the essence of nothing, martin gardner has singlehandedly created the field of recreational mathemat. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. It should be on the list of best books if you could only have one. Metamagical themas numbernumbness, or why inn um era cy may be just as dangerous as illiteracy by douglas r. If you love that, then read this, which is mostly a collection of the authors columns from scientific american. Theres no book that captures the joy of math better than these. He wrote volumes on magic, rationality and skepticism, recreational mathematics, science good, bad and bogus, alice in wonderland, philosophy and theology, wordplay, and much more. Metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter alibris.
This book by douglas hofstadter is subtitled questing for the essence of mind and pattern. When i was in high school i discovered the joys of reading martin gardners mathematical games column in scientific american. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern addeddate. Douglas hofstadters original article on nomic from scientific american, june 1982, trafnslated into german. Linear algebrabibliography wikibooks, open books for an. Sage business cases real world cases at your fingertips. This book is a collection of hofstaders essays and columns, many of which were published in scientific american. After a few years of pleasure he was replaced by someone else who among other things wrote on the joys of rubiks cube and i found myself wasting weeks of time and filling notebooks with my quest to explore and solve the cube. Gardner, martin october 1974, mathematical games, on the paradoxical situations that arise from nontransitive relations, scientific american.
Metamagical themas is a collection of eclectic articles written for scientific american during the early 1980s by douglas hofstadter, and published together as a book in 1985 by basic books isbn 0465045669. Apparently, catcher in the rye is deeply part of american culture, one of those books nearly every american has read. Based on the essay fooling some of the people all of the time, by barry singer and victor a. Douglas hofstadter and his research group, farg, have a particular approach to modelling human thought processes, and this book collects together some of their work over the last two decades. He is recognized as a leading authority on lewis carroll. The eternal golden braid, as well as his stint writing the discontinued scientific american column metamagical themas. Jan 19, 2020 sep 15, thomas rated it it was amazing shelves. Gould, stephen jay and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Metamagical themas quotes showing 16 of 6 it turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order. The anthology was published in 1985 by basic books. About the remarkable similarity between the icosian game and the tower of hanoi, scientific american.
I owe hofstadter a debt of gratitude for providing me with his wonderful introduction to the works of allen wheelis. Genetics of the evolutionary process by dobzhansky, theodosius. Sage books the ultimate social sciences digital library. Martin gardner project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Hofstadter chose the title metamagical themas for his column because it is. Jul 05, 2018 for me this book was a companion to metamagical themas, a collection of hofstadters scientific american articles. For me this book was a companion to metamagical themas, a collection of hofstadters scientific american articles. A central objective of this book is to examine the. Join facebook to connect with santanu bhattacharya and others you may know. I found it very charming at the time, and provide it here somewhat illegally for the edification of a new generation of lispers. Any of martin gardners collection of mathematical games columns from scientific american e. The evolution of cooperation is a 1981 paper by axelrod and evolutionary biologist w.
He is also the author of several other books on recreational mathematics, pseudoscience, and magic. The evolution of cooperation psychology wiki fandom. He is the author of several highly regarded books, including goedel, escher, bach and fluid concepts and creative analogies. The following is a list of references pulled from douglas hofstadters 1995 book, fluid concepts and creative analogies. Aug 15, 2001 it consists of a collection of his columns from scientific american which were written under the same title, alternating with postscripts which expand on the columns and link them together.
Metamagical themas, march 1981 scientific american. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by hofstadter, douglas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Migrated through combinatoriality from basic text and clientserver functionality for discrete files to an abstract container for interface modules handling all possible internetworked and web functions, including running small chunks of software on the fly and automatically refreshing content in interfaces that call on multiple server data sources. This list should really just be called 100 best american books as authors appear more than once and that seems to be the way the ranking works. In the mid80s, while reading through my roommates collection of scientific american back issues, i encountered this introduction to lisp written by douglas hofstadter. Thomas scientific lab supplies, lab equipment, lab. American libraries canadian libraries universal library community texts project gutenberg biodiversity heritage library childrens library. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. It is mindbending and astounding as one would expect from the author of godel, escher, bach and covers much of the same ground, but it also covers more practical aspects of ai and, in particular, aspects of cognitive science such as. They believe that perception is a key part of cognition, that analogy is a key component of perception, and that ai cognition research programmes that start from preperceived data.
National aeronautics and space administration, the unreal times, thomas hale. Hofstadter directs the centre for research on concepts and cognition at indiana university, and is the college of arts and sciences professor of cognitive science and computer science. Scientific american, a division of nature america, inc. The book of the same name, published in 1985, collects the columns he wrote for the magazine. The selfdescribed mere journalist martin gardner 19142010 left us over 100 books. These appeared for twentyfive years in scientific american, and his subsequent books collecting them. Classic puzzles, paradoxes, and problems whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, klein bottles or the essence of. Top american libraries canadian libraries universal library community texts project gutenberg biodiversity heritage library childrens library.
As a teenager growing up in dublin in the 1970s, i got two of his scientific american books, and became entralled with the solid with circular, triangular and square cross sections, the proof of the impossibility of a cube built from differentlysized smaller cubes, and the lateral thinking required to solve the monkey and the coconuts problem. Metamagical themas is an eclectic collection of articles that douglas hofstadter wrote for the popular science magazine scientific american during the early 1980s. Martin gardner, perhaps the worlds bestknown mathematician, was the author of scientific american s mathematical games column, many of which have been collected in book form. Buy metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter online at alibris. Table of contents for issues of scientific american last update. Aug 31, 2019 this metamaical, i found many of the chapters very dated because the whole field of ai has simply exploded in the intervening years. Metamagical themas goodreads meet your next favorite book.
Scientific american, may 1982, metamagical themas column. Computer models of the fundamental mechanisms of thought. Hofstadter directs the center for research on concepts and cognition at indiana university, and is the college of arts and sciences professor of cognitive science and computer science. This metamaical, i found many of the chapters very dated because the whole field of ai has simply exploded in the intervening years. Im vaguely aware its about american teenage angst, but thats all. Gardner, martin april 1970, mathematical games, some mathematical curiosities embedded in the solar system, scientific american. An introduction to the game, in german, from thomas voigtmann. Pull a reference book off the shelf yes, caulfield is the protagonist. Martin gardner, perhaps the worlds bestknown mathematician, was the author of scientific americans mathematical games column, many of which have been collected in book form. Featured movies all video latest this just in prelinger.
I dare say if i read it again i might barely be above half. After a few years of pleasure he was replaced by someone else who among other things wrote on the joys of rubiks cube and i found myself wasting weeks of time. Hofstadter, metamagical themas questing for the essence of mind and pattern philpapers. Cq press your definitive resource for politics, policy and people. Highly recommended for a ride into an forest of bizarre thoughts from a brillant thinker. Scientific american is the essential guide to the most aweinspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives. Hofstadter chose the title metamagical themas for his column because it is an anagram of mathematical games, martin gardner s column which hofstadter. Sage video bringing teaching, learning and research to life. Martin gardner october 21, 1914 may 22, 2010 4 was an american popular mathematics and popular science writer, with interests also encompassing micromagic, scientific skepticism, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of lewis carroll and g. Not only is metamagical themas a great source and resource in itself, but it will lead you to other fascinating books to wit books that deal not only with science but with literature and music. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern the shirtmaking workbook. Douglas hofstadter is a cognitive science and artificial intelligence researcher, computer scientist, and former physicist, most well known for his pulitzer prize winning book godel, escher, bach. The anthology was published in 1985 by basic books the volume is substantial in size and contains extensive notes concerning responses to the articles and other information relevant to their content.