I've heard a lot about Hofstadter, and I was very surprised when finally getting "I am a Strange Loop" that I didn't really like it. Actually I couldn't get past 100-150 pages - not because I hated it or anything, but it was just not interesting enough. Or maybe it digressed too much.

I'm a big fan of Marvin Minsky (I'm plowing through Society of Mind right now) and I enjoy immensely the way he demystifies the concept of consciousness - while still having buddhist quotes before half the chapters.