Among the many reasons to follow Tristn’s excellent blog is his series of posts on or relating to Gödel, Escher, Bach, a book I found almost magical (though I was underwhelmed by I Am a Strange Loop). The only difficulty with discussing it is that no part of it suffices to convey the tone or profundity or wit of the whole; excerpts invariably make it seem like something other than what it is. Nevertheless, I did enjoy this crab canon. Tristn writes:
Your Daily Dose of Gödel, Escher, Bach: Here’s a scan of the center of the Crab Canon dialogue. Wikipedia says that a crab canon is “a musical term for a kind of canon in which one line is reversed in time from the other (e.g. FABACEAE <=> EAECABAF)”. This being the cleverest book ever, the structure of the dialogue is itself a crab canon: The turning point occurs during the Crab’s interruption, and the lines are palindromically mirrored on each side of the Crab’s monologue.
You can also see more of his posts on GEB.
