I'm a current HS senior who took a Theory of Computation class the year prior, and I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins.
Now I'm about half-way through Godel, Esher, Bach, and I have to say that GEB and QCSD feel similar, with an overlap not only in theme but also in genre and style.
...I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins.
It might be a bit overkill, but if you go over the main chapters of Arora and Barak you should have more than enough background in complexity theory for your purposes.
See, this is interesting, because I found Silicon Valley puerile and delinquent -- too many dick jokes -- whereas Halt and Catch Fire is a little more intelligent. Generational difference? Possibly: I grew up with computers in the 70's.
I am a mildly dyslexic. I have excellent reading comprehension, but I read about a standard deviation slower than the average reader.
Thus, I don't think I've ever read a book "only once," since in order to understand much of anything, I always end up reading each page paragraph, sentence, or word until I understand it before I progress.
I find myself doing this too. When I usually read stuff, I understand it on the first read almost every time but when I'm reading something that I need to grasp completely like a book or article, I reread the same lines, even in easily comprehensible novels.
