Donald Kennedy, former Stanford president and editor of Science magazine, was a neighbor of Hofstadter's family on San Juan Hill and had persuaded Hofstadter to teach in the human biology program during his time working on Gödel, Escher, Bach.

When Gödel, Escher, Bach was published, Kennedy experienced a 'voyeuristic feeling' of having a transient association with what he considered a great literary triumph.

Hofstadter replaced Martin Gardner as the columnist writing 'Metamagical Themas' (an anagram of 'Mathematical Games') in Scientific American starting in 1981, serving in that role for 2.5 years without disappointing readers.

Hofstadter and his children Danny and Monica maintain an Italian-only household conversation rule as a custom of honoring his late wife Carol, a fellow explorer of the translation universe.