I should like this book. The subject matter covers things I have studied in depth and find interesting. The premise is something I mostly agree with. The writing is good enough to not get in the way and I like going on recursive tangents that may or may not add to the overall text (I'm looking at you Moby Dick). In spite of this it was not enjoyable at all.

It wasn't a matter of not getting it, I've slogged through Godel's paper and dug into technical aspects of many of the topics Hofstadter covers in the book. I even enjoyed working out the puzzles. I think it boils down to already having a similar working knowledge of the material covered and the presentation here did not provide any significant new illuminations to what I already knew. Maybe this is because the lessons from GEB have already permeated into things I've read that have been published since. Either way this was a long slow read with little payoff outside the Escher prints.