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From: inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Godel, Escher, Bach
Message-ID: <594@tpvax.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-May-85 11:22:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: tpvax.594
Posted: Thu May  2 11:22:47 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 7-May-85 20:12:52 EDT
References: <262@cmu-cs-gandalf.ARPA>, <582@tpvax.fluke.UUCP> <516@nbs-amrf.UUCP> <499@decuac.UUCP>
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 32

> 
>    Lots of people *do* like the book.  And it *did* win *the prize*.
> So, it must be good, eh?  By the way, it was used as a text -- at
> least the year before publication it was -- at Indiana U (the Hoosiers).
>
> Fred Avolio      {decvax,seismo}!decuac!avolio      301/731-4100 x4227

*** REMESS THIS AGE WITH LINES ***


Pardon', Messieur, but just because something wins a prize is no indicator
of its merit. After all, they gave John Wayne an Oscar, didn't they?

And while lots of people may have liked the book, I submit it takes either
an extremely arcane sense of humor to appreciate it, or else you're seeing
the "groupie" effect in action.

Used as a text? So what? At the University of Wisconsin (GO BADGERS!) you
can take a course called "Poetry for Engineers" that uses some real
*garbage* as texts.

Everything you have said is not a statement of any intrinsic merit in
Hofstader's book -- all you say is that it won a popularity contest. So did
the floozy who took on the football team in high school.

Face it: the book is inaccessible, says nothing really except perhaps, "why
is there air?" and goes nowhere. Metamagical Thema indeed!

-- 
			       Ensign Benson
			       -Space Cadet-
 
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