Indeed. See Hofstadter's "Goedel Escher Bach" (as I'm sure you have done) for more; much more! :-)

Indeed I have :-) I borrowed it in my sixth form from a maths teacher who'd been struggling through it all term. I think he was a bit disheartened when I got it back to him within 48 hours, bouncing up and down and going "wow, what an amazing book"...

Hee hee :-))

I have started it three times, once in each year of University. The first time I got about a quarter of the way through before giving it up with brain-ache; the second time I got about half way through before ditto, and the third time, finally, I finished it. With brain-ache :-)