Group read-through of "Gödel, Escher, Bach"

Every few decades an unknown author brings out a book of such depth, clarity, range, wit, beauty and originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary event. [This] is such a work.

- Martin Gardner

One summer, long ago, I read the first half of an amazing book called Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, but then I had to return it to the library, and I never found the time to finish it.

Now I've discovered that a group read-through of "Gödel, Escher, Bach" is being organized through Reddit. It's being run by Rob Speer who has previously taught seminars on this book (and who has read it five times!).

What makes it amazing? It discusses Escher's art, Bach's music, and Gödel's mathematics and ties them all together. It's got puzzles and paradoxes and ponderings about the nature of consciousness. And it is terribly fun. It has a whimsical style evidenced by its wordplay and humor. The author incorporated a wonderful dialogue written by Lewis Carroll called "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles" in which the Tortoise and Achilles have a discussion which illustrates a paradox of logical inference.

Here is how it begins:

Achilles had overtaken the Tortoise, and had seated himself comfortably on its back.

"So you've got to the end of our race-course?" said the Tortoise. "Even though it does consist of an infinite series of distances? I thought some wiseacre or another had proved that the thing couldn't be done?"

"It can be done," said Achilles; "It has been done! Solvitur ambulando. You see, the distances were constantly diminishing; and so—"

"But if they had been constantly increasing?" the Tortoise interrupted. "How then?"

"Then I shouldn't be here," Achilles modestly replied; "and you would have got several times round the world, by this time!"

"You flatter me—flatten, I mean," said the Tortoise; "for you are a heavy weight, and no mistake! Well now, would you like to hear of a race-course, that most people fancy they can get to the end of in two or three steps, while it really consists of an infinite number of distances, each one longer than the previous one?"

"Very much indeed!" said the Grecian warrior, as he drew from his helmet (few Grecian warriors possessed pockets in those days) an enormous note-book and a pencil. "Proceed! And speak slowly, please. Short-hand isn't invented yet!"

He then wrote similar dialogues with the Tortoise and Achilles and other characters to accompany and introduce each of the book's chapters. And these are just a fraction of the things that make this book so great!


The plan is to read the book slowly, over six months (from January to July of 2012), so even if you start a little late, there's plenty of time to catch up. Rob will post insights and discussion threads in the group forum at http://reddit.com/r/GEB.

It is a challenging book, but a rewarding one. If you have ever thought about trying to read it, this is a great opportunity to follow through.

Two new Bananagrams puzzle books

As follow-ups to >Bananagrams! The Official Book, Joe Edley has co-authored two more Bananagrams puzzle books that should now be available in bookstores. The first book, More Bananagrams!, was written with Abe and Rena Nathanson, and features more of the puzzles that earned the initial Bananagrams puzzle book acclaim.

The second book, aimed at the younger Bananagrammists out there, is called Bananagrams for Kids and has contributions from Puzzability, a puzzle-making factory started by three former editors of Games magazine. Puzzability is probably best known for the puzzles that the New York Times has allowed them to publish on certain days, in lieu of their regular Op-Ed page. An example from last year is their "Space Case" set of puzzles. Some other examples of their non-Bananagrams puzzles can be found here, including some for kids.

Play online Bananagrams and you might possibly win Bananagrams prizes

According to this press release, there is a contest running from now through February 12th, 2010 where, if you play Bananagrams online and attain certain levels of achievement, it is possible to enter into a drawing for an actual prize.

Depending on the day, you either have to play Solo Café Bananagrams (the one where you get all 21 tiles at the start with no peeling) or actual Bananagrams games against other online opponents.

Here's exactly what you have to do to be entered into the drawing:

From January 25th through January 29th, if you finish a game of Solo Café Bananagrams in less than 40 seconds, you are entered into the drawing for that day. (You can qualify once per day.)
From February 1st through February 5th, you have to win more than 12 Bananagrams games (in one day) against other players to qualify for that day.
And from February 8th through February 12th, you have to finish one game of Solo Café Bananagrams in less than 35 seconds.

You can play on any of the four venues for online Bananagrams (the iPhone app, Facebook, MySpace, or Bebo).

The information posted on Facebook on the first week of the contest indicated that ten copies of the Bananagrams book will be awarded for the first week of competition as well as one copy of the Bananagrams iPhone app. Probably the prizes will be the same for the remaining three weeks.

Good luck!

"Bananagrams!: the official book" - coming in September, 2009

The first Bananagrams-themed book is on its way:
Bananagrams!: The Official Book. It sounds like the book has a huge variety of Bananagrams-based puzzles (presumably puzzles you can solve using your Bananagrams tiles) as well as tactics for Bananagrams and random fun.

About the authors:
Joe Edley, the Zen master of competitive Scrabble, was featured as one of the main characters in Stefan Fatsis' _Word Freak_, the original investigation of the world of Scrabble tournaments (followed up by two documentaries (Word Wars and Scrabylon)). I really enjoyed _Word Freak_.

And from the Amazon page:

Abe Nathanson and his daughter, Rena, along with his grandchildren Aaron and Ava invented Bananagrams while spending the summer of 2005 together at a beach house in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The whole Nathanson family is involved in the growing game business. Rena and her family reside in the U.K., and Abe lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he runs the company's headquarters.

According to the official Bananagrams origins story, Bananagrams was created by the Nathanson family during summer vacations, through a process of experimentation. Not unlike the Wright Brothers' persistent tinkering until they achieved perfection.

Why "Bananagrams"? Because they say that it is "the anagram game that will drive you bananas!".