[michael_dorfman]

As Shakespeare says, "the readiness is all." It's one of those books that needs to find you at the right moment-- if you are not ready for it, some of it can seem like an odd mix of nonsense and hard work. If, on the other hand, you come to it after an advanced education in many of the topics, you might find it slight.

I re-read it, and Metamagical Themas a couple years ago, and was pleased to find how well it held up after all these years. Some books that are mind-opening when we read them as teenagers seem awfully thin decades later (yes, I'm looking at you, Robert Pirsig.)

[kevbin]

Totally agree about GEB. But I never understood what I was supposed to get out of Pirsig's Zen and the Art of... I always felt like I was missing something that everyone else connected with. Do you remember what you connected with in it?

[michael_dorfman]

I was a young teenager when I read it, and had not yet read Plato, Aristotle, or any Zen, so it was a nice eye-opener, but quickly superseded.

I'm guessing "The Matrix" played a similar role for a more recent generation. If you haven't been previously exposed to Philosophy 101, I'm sure it seems pretty profound.