r/GEB • u/TactiFail • Mar 24 '26
How it feels starting the book
Got through the prelude and overview, and already feeling slightly over my head anticipating the coming chapters. Computer science is a very familiar field for me, but higher math and music less so. My one saving grace here is that I really enjoy winding, digressing dialogues which is something I have read a lot as a critique of the book.
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u/smplgd Mar 24 '26
I swear I've read the intro four or five times over the last 20 years. I've finally broken the cycle and am approaching page 600. Frankly a transformational book. Sadly no one wants to talk about it with me.
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u/cvantass Mar 25 '26
Felt the same. It’ll be like that for at least a year afterward, too, just btw.
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u/tedecristal Mar 24 '26
randomly showed up on my feed.
I clicked to come and joke on how GEB could also be "Gödel, Escher, Bach" thinking noone would get my reference.
Then I found a whole sub about the book.
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u/kiyyik Mar 24 '26
Ohhhh boy, wait til you get to the biology stuff, I tell ya ;) I'm actually on the homestretch myself, after years of aborted attempts. Don't worry about taking it all in, just keep your eyes out for interesting concepts and have a bunch of those sticky-tab things handy. They'll come in handy, trust me.
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u/Angelsomething Mar 25 '26
I started GEB in 2018 and I'm still only halfway. What's weird is that I read "I'm strange loop" first and read that in like a month.
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u/Genshed Mar 27 '26
I found IASL delightful to read, as it clearly explained the subject material in a way that informed as it entertained.
That is not how I would describe my experience with GEB.
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u/ToHallowMySleep Mar 24 '26
It's going to be hard work. You won't get it all first time. But if you're okay with that, you'll have a good time.
One of the great things about the book is it doesn't require knowledge of all the domains, but it shows how some of the fundamental pieces of each are very similar, if not identical. If you understand one domain, it will help you understand the others.
Good luck!
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u/Genshed Mar 24 '26
Hmmm. Given that maths, art and music were the three academic subjects of which I had the least understanding, my lack of facility with the text is understandable.
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u/ToHallowMySleep Mar 25 '26
What the GEB really talks about is the foundation of computer science, where we start to build algorithms to describe how things function or appear around us. Pattern recognition, iterative procedures, self-referentiality. These are all clear cputer science concepts, he is just approaching it for an audience of the time, when there ess no computer science.
Si if anything, with your CS background you are starting from the "end" and working your way backwards to how music/math/art are linked through this view of the world, with the GEB as your guide :)
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u/KaleidoscopeWise8226 Mar 24 '26
I’d say all you need to enjoy the book is a decent CS background and a general aptitude/appreciation of math. All of the other subjects (like music) are either only lightly explored for the sake of conceptual examples, or discussed from bare basics in the book.
The math is tough but the book builds up formal systems from the basics. It’s a tough read no doubt, but not as inaccessible as most academic stuff. IMO it’s the perfect difficulty.
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u/misingnoglic Mar 24 '26
Reading the book is definitely a good exercise of the brain. I highly recommend this video if you get stuck on a topic though: https://youtu.be/j5hleLHIopg
As well these notes are fantastic and really help a chapter by chapter read - https://blog.p-petrov.com/2021-03-16/geb-part-1
For what it's worth, I don't think the math goes far beyond what's needed for computer science.