GEB

My client asked me if I was aware of Gödel, Escher and Bach. I passively nodded my head conveying "no". He posed me couple of questions such as do natural numbers and even numbers have the same or different infinite values, how about real numbers and natural number etc. By fluke I gave the right answer. This topic came in today's meeting as he wanted to share few thoughts on his current reading of "I am a strange loop" book. My client loves to read technical books that associates mind with mathematical theories. I can not ever reckon reading one in my lifetime as I always considered such books to be very vague and boring. Such books would for sure make me sleepy. Following tidbit from Wikipedia would give some idea about GEB to those like me who do not have any knowledge about GEB.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter,[1] described by the author as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll".[2]

On its surface, GEB examines logician Kurt Gödel, artist M. C. Escher and composer Johann Sebastian Bach, discussing common themes in their work and lives. At a deeper level, the book is a detailed and subtle exposition of concepts fundamental to mathematics, symmetry, and intelligence.

Through illustration and analysis, the book discusses how self-reference and formal rules allow systems to acquire meaning despite being made of "meaningless" elements. It also discusses what it means to communicate, how knowledge can be represented and stored, the methods and limitations of symbolic representation, and even the fundamental notion of "meaning" itself.