It deals with fundamentals, essence and limits of computer science and mathematical thinking. In some sense, it is a deliberate introduction to basic notions such as computation, recursion, proof, formal system, consistence and completeness of logic, undecidability, artificial intelligence, on which computer science relies.
The book has been described as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll" or as the journal Scientific American stated, "Every few decades, an unknown author brings out a book of such depth, clarity, range, wit, beauty and originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary event."
A selection of its topics has been covered in an advanced high school seminar organized by MIT.
