This incredible book explores, through an utterly fascinating synthesis of disparate ideas, what it means to think. Gödel's theorem about the inherent incompleteness of formal systems in mathematics serves as the backbone, while the self-referential and dimension-transcending works of M.C. Escher and J. S. Bach are woven in as needed to illustrate and enrichen the narrative. Hofstadter precedes each chapter with a humorous dialogue between Achilles and the Tortoise, borrowed from Lewis Carroll, and other characters, to introduce (sometimes subtly!) the concepts he exposits later in a more conventional way. Drawing on number theory, genetics, computer science, Zen Buddhism, the brain, animal behavior, artificial intelligence, art, music, language, and other topics, Hofstadter doesn't so much drive a point home as he revels in the interconnectedness of all things in his own mind. But perhaps that's the point.