Rating: 
Summary: The French for GEB is Le Ton Beau de Marot.
Review: Some people say it's not as good as GEB - but it really is. It's just different. Both of these two books - Hofstadter's best, along with Metamagical Themas - are controlled by some single vision, some idea that somehow managed to spark seven hundred or so pages of ideas. GEB was more complex. The ideas were harder. Le Ton Beau de Marot is, at its core, a book about translation. The book was inspired by the author's attempts to translate a short (28 trisyllabic lines) poem by an obscure French Renaissance poet named Clement Marot. (You'll probably have the poem memorized by the end of the book, at least if you know French - and if you don't, it's conveniently included on a detachable bookmark on the inside back cover.) Hofstadter, after tackling this challenge himself, sent out a letter (reprinted in the book) to many friends challenging them to translate it as well, including a list of some formal constraints on the poem that he wanted to point out and two fairly literal glosses of the poem for the non-francophones in his circle. The book's structure (like all of DRH's other books) is one of alternation - small groups of translations of the poem, which originally were meant to constitute the whole book but now make up a sort of sideshow and can be skipped without detracting from the understanding of the book, alternate with chapters on various issues of translation. The poems don't play the role that you might expect, a role roughly analogous to that of the dialogues in GEB. In GEB, the dialogues were meant to introduce some point that would be developed in the chapter. Here, they're not. Most of the book consists of discussions of some of the dilemmas of literary translation, with examples drawn from various literary works. Among Hofstadter's favorite examples is Alexander Pushkin's quintessential Russian novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. EO is written in several hundred "Onegin stanzas", essentially modified sonnets, but some translators don't do a great job of keeping this form. Hofstadter didn't know Russian at the time, but he exhibits various translations and shows their merits and flaws, and does a quite good job, at least to my inexperienced eye. (He has since learned Russian, and did his own translation of Eugene Onegin, which is currently for sale.) Poetic translation, of course, is the soul of this book, and Hofstadter subscribes to the school of translation believing that the medium and the message are equally important. He thus spends a chapter talking about Dante's Divine Comedy. One of the important things about the Divine Comedy is that it is written in a form known as terza rima - three line stanzas, rhyming ABA, BCB, CDC, DED, and so on - which contributes greatly to the interest of the poem. Many translators ignore this, for reasons of "scholarly purity" or something equally pompous - but Hofstadter convinces us that that can't be done. Again, dealing with the issue of form, I note the large number of constraints that Hofstadter placed on himself in the writing of this book. He claims to have spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about the typesetting and such things; thus, none of the poems within chapters, for example, are broken across page boundaries. (There are literally hundreds of poetic examples - so don't say that this is just a coincidence.) Hofstadter also seems to like lipogrammatic writing (that is, writing without a certain letter, usually the letter "e"), and even translated Searle's Chinese Room anecdote into "Anglo-Saxon" (that is, "e"-less English). This raises an interesting question - why is it that translating from, say, English to French is totally acceptable, while translating from British English to American English (or vice versa) is sacrilege? In conclusion, an excellent look at the issues involved in translation. Of course, this being Hofstadter, there is some talk about AI and machine translation - but that isn't the core of the book. Much more literary than you might expect - but Hofstadter is polymathic enough that that's not a problem. Don't let the size put you off - it will go quickly. Maybe too quickly - but don't all the best?
Rating: 
Summary: Love of language
Review: The whole book is a discussion of translation and it is a delight to read Hofstadter's meaderings on various topic, a lively mind at work. This book is rather on the obsessive side and does rework several themes he has explored thoroughly in other books, however. Still, in my mind, worth reading. This book also adds a personal dimension, his own story of his wife's death, which does a great deal to humanize what might have otherwise been a bit on the esoteric side.
Rating:
Summary: More of the Same for Hard Core Hofstadter Fans
Review: This book describes the human mind and artificial intelligence through attempts at translating an old French poem into English. There are tons of translations in the book of this short poem, each stressing a different aspect of it.
The problem is that if you've read much of Hofstadter's work past his brilliant "Godel Escher, Bach," (GEB) there is very little in this book that will be new to you. You already know how he thinks and what his views on intelligence, consciousness, and translation are. I had trouble finishing this book because of this; I could finish his thoughts before reading the next sentence. However, this'll probably be very interesting if you've already read GEB and want another Hofstadter book to sink your teeth into. He is one of the greatest thinkers of our time.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read For The Well Read
Review: This book's beauty lies not in the translations themselves but in the artfulness that they are described and the literary genius used by Hofstadter to write this book. It is loaded with puns, double entendres, allusion and literary devices. Saying that may make the book sound dense and imposing but this is certainly not so. It is penned in a lighthearted, humorous and yet academic style which, to the well read, will be an enjoyable romp through art, history, and literature. It is a highly cultured work from a highly cultured man. This book is not nearly as heavy as "Gödel, Escher Bach" but it is profound. Hofstadter throws conventional thought through a window, as he takes free association and stream of consciousness and uses it reasonably well to make his points.
Critics of Hofstadter may say that he loses the reader in his style and abundant allusions but it is part of the fun. He realizes that he cant translate Marot perfectly but is imaginative and adept at making the poems sound more alive. I am not a good speaker of French and for me to read Marot in its native tongue is impossible. This book makes it possible, and more so breathes new life into poems that were once stogy. Hofstadter also makes it easier to put oneself in the mindset of Marot through his wonderful descriptions. This is a book you can pick up put down and return to later. This is a really fun book to read even if you are not a fan of poetry and if you are a fan of trivia this is a must read.
-- Ted Murena
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