Product Description

When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined. A phenomenal worldwide bestseller, SOPHIE'S WORLD sets out to draw teenagers into the world of Socrates, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel and all the great philosophers. A brilliantly original and fascinating story with many twists and turns, it raises profound questions about the meaning of life and the origin of the universe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1524 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Synopsis
When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined. A phenomenal worldwide bestseller, SOPHIE'S WORLD sets out to draw teenagers into the world of Socrates, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel and all the great philosophers. A brilliantly original and fascinating story with many twists and turns, it raises profound questions about the meaning of life and the origin of the universe.

About the Author
Jostein Gaarder is the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries. He was born in Oslo in 1952 and lives there now with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

A (decent) history of Western philosophy disguised as a (middle of the road) novel
Jostein Gaarder has written a concise history of Western philosophy, disguised as a novel. The good news is that the 2000 years of Western philosophy is well explained, the bad news is that the fiction that he hangs the story around, isn't that impressive.

For a philistine such as myself, whose understanding of philosophy extends to having read Plato's Republic and Matt Lawrence's Like a Splinter in Your Mind i.e. basically quite ignorant, Sophie's World did what I needed it to do: it successfully encapsulated and chronologically presented a sequence of ideas and modes of thought that have come to define a Western, rationalist school of thinking. This was exactly what I wanted from the book and in that, I can unreservedly recommend this work. As a work of fiction, Sophie's World sticks together quite well for the first half of the book but once its' central conceit has been revealed, the story becomes much less interesting. I'm certainly not the best judge of fiction as I don't read much of it at all but this story borders on the overly-contrived (which may be intentional).

Given it's subject matter, there is only so far that the material can be simplified before it loses its' meaning (Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time is a perfect example). As Sophie's World involves a series of letters and conversations betwixt a philosophy professor and a fourteen year old girl, the intention is that if she can understand it, then you certainly should. Jostein Gaarder has boiled philosophy down to its' fundamentals about as far as you can before it would become a series of aphorisms.

In short, a successful introduction to all the big names and theories of Western thought (perhaps an update might include a section on string theory), kind of Now That's What I Call Philosophy; however, if you are to purchase this for its fictional facet, then I'd suggest thinking twice.

Proof that you can learn in your leisure!
I read this as an adult and wish it had been around when I was a teenager as well. It appealed to the eternal, wondering child within me and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Whatever its flaws, whether you just want to have fun, be absorbed in an enquiring read or to learn something about philosophy, I reckon you'd read it to the end .. I'll certainly read it again.

Engagingly light
A happy wander around childlike explanitions of key philosopher's and figures through out history. However its engaging and i'm almost half way through - not bad really!
Thanks to Del for recommending it.