6. Hofstadter: Hidden Tricks in GEB
Description
This article is from the Hofstadter and GEB FAQ, by TANAKA Tomoyuki tanaka@cs.indiana.edu with numerous contributions by others.
6. Hofstadter: Hidden Tricks in GEB
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### S P O I L E R A L E R T ###
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this sections contains *SPOILERS*. skip this section if
you want to search for the hidden GEB tricks on your own.
these tricks are subtle enough that 99% of people who
bought GEB have not found them.
--- The beginning of Genesis, in ancient Hebrew
http://www.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=382942417
http://www.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=383411928
(Simon Montagu <smontagu@my-dejanews.com>)
(i thought Simon provided more detailed info, but i
can't find it in dejanews now.)
--- check out "chunked versions of this book" in the index.
(Tal Cohen <tal@forum2.org>)
--- the index entry: "Dboups, Hfpsh". shift each letter (like
IBM->HAL) and you get "Cantor, Georg".
(Neil Harris <neil@nharris.demon.co.uk>)
--- in the index, the entry "Hofstadter, D.R." points to Page 310.
i wondered for a long time why this was, and discovered
the hidden letters "HOFST" and "ADTER".
--- in the index "Hofstadter, D.R." also points to Page 742.
on that page, Achilles's first line ends with "host of
formal structural tricks." (hofst); the next line begins
with "After describing the Endless Rising" (AdtER).
"towards the very end of the Six-Part Ricercar, ...
Bach slyly hid his own name, split between two of the
upper voices." (Page 719)
(Simon Montagu <smontagu@my-dejanews.com>
Tony Pay <Tony@stsm.demon.co.uk>)
--- Page 131,
"The confusion among the audience
{that out-of-order popping from the stack
(onto which the professor's verbs had been pushed,)
is amusing to imagine,}
could engender."
(parentheses and indentation added)
i hope you see the out-of-order popping from the stack.
--- the dialogue "Aria with Diverse Variations" really ends on
Page 404, as hinted earlier in the dialogue. The rest
of the dialogue follows another suggestion of including
two extraneous characters, the coppers Silva and Gould.
Hint about the hidden 'end': look for words with missing
letters. <smontagu@my-dejanews.com>
--- in the Bibliography, there's "a reference ... to an
isomorphic, but imaginary, book". this book is
described as "turgid and confused", the same words used
to describe Bach's work by some critics (Page 3).
<tal@forum2.org>
i'll add other hidden tricks you've found here, unless it's too
obvious like TTortoise (ATTACCA) or Contracrostipunctus.
Continue to:
My Books
