Does it solve the mystery?

Not at all, but I have a feeling that there are clues to be found for the meticulous reader:
http://levishand.com/2009/06/19/adventure-of-the-sussex-vampire/

I have just noticed an edge of paper in front of the main title page, as if there had been another page there that was cut out. Perhaps this is just an artefact of binding, but, given everything else, such as the page with the hole, it might be meant to mean something. Starting from the front, I have the black end-paper with the letter to Hofstadter attached to it, then a page with the Escher drawing, followed by this edge and then the main title page. Is that the same for everyone?

With regard to the cut-out, I also see “faith and choice” if I align the bottom of the Hofstadter letter with the bottom of the page, but if I align the tops instead I see “a copy without.” Perhaps the alignment isn’t quite so good, but that for “faith and choice” is not perfect (and neither make much sense in the context of the text on the page).

I have no connection with Hofstadter (well, I know David Chalmers, who was student of his, but that is it), and I have never published anything referring to Hofstadter (although I did make a passing mention of him in my doctoral thesis, which is on my site), or Douglas Adams or any of the other people that “Joe K” seems interested in. I am an atheist, but generally keep my religious opinions to myself: I am pretty sure there is no hint of that on my own web site, although if you were to scour old usenet postings or comments on other people’s blogs you might be able to figure it out.

Levi Shand does not make it entirely clear in his postings here, but, if you look at his blog, he appears to be a recent graduate of Indiana University. The several copies of the book that he says were found by his friend Kevin seem to be the only ones we know of that were not mailed to someone individually, and it appears that they were found close to the UI campus, where Hofstadter is a professor. That seems to be a least weak circumstantial evidence that Hofstadter himself, despite his denials, is the source of this. Perhaps these were copies that he was about to ship off in bulk to a confederate in Sweden for mailing (I see no real evidence that the book was actually printed in Sweden).

Does anyone know anything about Hofstadter’s religious views? Come to that, does anyone know him well enough to say whether he is seriously eccentric? “Gödel, Escher, Bach” certainly seems like the work of someone who is both brilliant and loopy (pun intended).

At the end of the day, though, I guess I still lean toward the theory that it is all the work of some wealthy Swedish nutcase.

I’m trying to figure out how our names and addresses are being collected.

I’m a UK journalist and author - I work for The Guardian, Channel 4 television and the BBC, and my various books can be read about on my website, jonronson.com. I’ve been approached by someone who has been sent Being or Nothingness to try and solve this wonderful, fascinating, unsettling mystery once and for all!

I would therefore love to talk with anyone who has received it, whether you’ve done any investigating about it’s source or not.

It would be great to hear from you at jonronson@mac.com

With very best wishes

Jon Ronson

Could these be the ones:
http://levishand.com/2009/05/04/the-book/