Hofstadter
Douglas R. Hofstadter is a Professor of computer science and cognitive science at Indiana University. He directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, where he and his graduate students are developing computer simulations and models of creative analogy-making.
Points of Interest to Hofstadter Fans
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
G.E.B. will change the way you think — not by telling you how to think, but by making you question your own methods. Hofstadter takes the art of M. C. Escher, Godel’s incompleteness theorem, and the cannons and fuges of J. S. Bach and weaves them into a lense with which to look at reality. Included is an introduction to formal systems that will benefit anyone with Computer Science or Mathematical tendencies. If you don’t lean towards these subjects, you should read G.E.B. anyway — you just might learn how to think.
The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul
The Mind’s I is an excellent intruduction to themas in cognitive science. It’s actually a collection of essays by a “bunch of guys who think too much”. At any rate, it explores questions like “what makes me aware of myself?” Of course these are the fundamental questions of artificial intelligence.