An exploration of consciousness by a prominent scholar in the field & an educational background similar to my own -- what's not to like? Well, for me, that was 'most of it' unfortunately.

The book was a slog to get through. I put it down about half way in and it took some time to come back and finish it of. I don't think that it was the subject matter; but the content, context and story telling that killed it.

VCRs, marbles, record players: I'm not that young that these things are before my time. For a book written in 2007 however these references still seem dated. That, for one was something that didn't mesh with me. Second: Hofstadter's heroes are not my heroes - and it seems you need to have a deep understanding of certain nuances & mannerisms of particular musicians that play Bach in the 'correct' way to gain a modicum of understanding of what consciousness is based on these tales. Third: dialogues between individual loops within a person, when you're having issues connecting with that individual are perhaps the least effective manner to get a point across I could think of.

There were so many examples that rubbed me the wrong way, many of which already by 2007 had strong rebuttals or counter evidence against the positions posited herein. As an example, a lengthy discussion about the colors red and blue concludes that categories within individual's minds may be different, but these differences can be remapped through dialogue. This is a serious surface skim and doesn't reflect even the most common findings concerning color perception of the times [see Friedman & Miyake, JEP: Gen, 133 (2004) for example].

A story concerning two universes with one robot that was conscious, and another where it was not, but mimicked what should be conscious behaviour: a child was scoffed at for showing empathy to a robot with no 'real' feelings. This is ridiculous. Since Hofstadter has a thing for antiquated phrases, "Don't cry over spilled milk" resonates here. One can show emotions about non-animate objects, let alone 100% convincing representations of animate ones.

Putting all of this aside even, nothing in the book was new to me. It was far more "memoirs and tidbits of an interesting career & the joys and sadness that a life brings" than a deep dive into consciousness.