Photo: Maurizio Codogno, it:Utente:.mau. / CC BY 2.5 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Hofstadter sits in a category of his own for me. Gödel, Escher, Bach is not a book so much as a hall of mirrors braiding mathematics, art, and music into a single argument about the mind, and it earned both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award for good reason. I Am a Strange Loop then turned that machinery on the self. A Stanford-trained physicist who drifted into cognitive science, he writes hard ideas with a playfulness that makes you want to keep going. I usually abandon difficult books; his are the ones I reopen.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Douglas Hofstadter
- Name (Japanese)
- ダグラス・ホフスタッター
- Reading
- だぐらす・ほふすたったー
- Born
- February 15, 1945 (age 81)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Rooster
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- philosopher / writer / university teacher / computer scientist / physicist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Palo Alto High School
- University
- Stanford University
Awards & achievements
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1980 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
- 1980 National Book Award
- Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society
- Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2011 Barwise Prize
- 2018 Albertus-Magnus professorate
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Gödel, Escher, Bach | — | |
| Notable work | I Am a Strange Loop | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Douglas Hofstadter born?
Born February 15, 1945 (age 81).
Where is Douglas Hofstadter from?
Douglas Hofstadter is from New York City, New York, United States.
What does Douglas Hofstadter do?
Douglas Hofstadter works as philosopher, writer, university teacher, computer scientist, physicist.
What is Douglas Hofstadter known for?
Notable works include Gödel, Escher, Bach, I Am a Strange Loop.
Philosopher — see all → · Writer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-20
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.