Definitely has a lot of fascinating content, it's packed full of fascinating facts and interesting ideas. I found the translations a bit wearying after a while though. I think I have fairly different taste in poetry to Hofstadter, he likes very systematic sing-song rhymes which often stretch syntax and sense. I prefer the translations he dislikes, which follow the original metaphors and feel more like natural English at the expense of proper rhyme and original meter.

The book was typeset by Hofstadter himself, and at times feels a bit self-indulgent. I think just as a good translator is important, a good editor can often improve a book.

Overall though, lots of interesting content and form. Worth reading if you have any fondness for intellectual magpie-ism.

Review.

What I'm Reading
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Sequel to "Wolf Hall", the second part of the proposed trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. I actually liked this one more than the first, maybe because I was more prepared for the slow pace of actual events. Cromwell himself seems a little more complex in this one, as he makes moral compromises in response to events. Definitely worth reading if you liked the first.

There's no firm date for the final volume The Mirror and the Light but it's pencilled in for 2015.

What I'm Watching
Saw Frankenweenie. on disk. Entertaining Tim Burton animation, spoofing Frankenstein as a high school kid brings his pet dog back to life. Packed full of movie references.

Not bad, but seemed a little bit cosy and lacking in bite. Could have done with a bit of actual fear or tearjerking, but I guess its aimed at kids and maybe it needed to be a bit light.

Theatre
Saw "The Pitmen Painters" at the Richmond Theatre. Play based on a real group of coal miners who started a painting group, and had some moderately successful exhibitions while still working as miners.

Pretty good play, though it gets a little bit preachy with the lectures about art. Solid performances from a touring company. Fairly entertaining.

Links
Socioeconomics. The Problem With Male Feminists. Britain’s Property Problem. HFT v. Day Traders.

Family. Why I am the perfect mother. Take back your pregnancy.

Sci/Tech. Blackberry and Nokia's failing. How Brains Race to Cancel Errant Movements. Supersymmetry evidence elusive. Brief Google outage affects total Internet traffic. Hyperloop proposal problems.

Articles. John Grisham on Guantanamo Prisoner. Richard Seymour on charging for social workers. The rise and fall of the mid-Atlantic fake accent. Freeman Dyson on Robert Oppenheimer.

I went to see Oppenheimer and asked him directly why he had thought that tactical nuclear weapons were a good idea. This time, he answered my question. He said, "To understand why I advocated tactical weapons, you would have to see the Air Force war plan that we had then. That was the God-damnedest thing I ever saw. It was a mindless obliteration of cities and populations. Anything, even a major ground war fought with nuclear weapons, was better than that."

Politics. Private school pupils 9% more likely to be admitted to Oxford than those at a state school with same grades (not worth mentioning except for the myth of the opposite).

Pics. Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You Might Remember Me From... Shorpy: old swimsuits, trunks on top. fashion showroom.

Random How to Block a Surveillance Camera: A DIY Art Tutorial from Ai Weiwei. 129 question D&D alignment test, via, apparently I'm a "Lawful Good Human Wizard". The wine-dark sea. Cats: A Tumblr Essay.