You are a very smart girl! :-)
In truth, when I was writing that post (and disparaging books in general ;-) I started to consider what books related to the subject that I actually owned on my bookshelf. It turns out that I only have two books on my bookshelf even vaguely related to AI: The GEB book and the Li/Vitanyi book on Kolmogorov Complexity. Everything else I have amounts to a handful of obscure papers. Since the Li/Vitanyi book is esoteric and not directly related to AI (though the mathematics is extremely important), I opted for the Hofstadter book which I haven't read in years. I have an excellent memory and often work beyond the published edges of the fields I dabble in, so I find that a large library does not get used very often and opt to only keep a few texts that still have value to me.
My handle actually comes from a number of sources, and has been in use here and other places for a very long time. I used to have a carved stone tortoise in my office (since shattered in an accident) which I adopted as a handle. The tortoise is also a powerful metaphor in many cultures around the world, and has good symbolism. Lastly, it was indeed a subtle nod to Hofstadter for writing a book that inspired me many, many years ago. As an added bonus, it is a handle that apparently is not generally used by other people, so it is almost always available when I create accounts at various sites.
Regards!
To me, it always bringz Zeno's paradox to mind. That, and "turtles all the way down."
Thank you for your post and thank you for the kudos! (blushing...)
Sadly, my appetite for books exceeds both my budget and my time. But I am particularly fond of the genre we are discussing here!
As a curiosity, did you choose your field after you read Hofstadter?