Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

I don’t know how I had never heard about this quite amazing book; there are 30 million copies in print in many languages according to the reader’s guide. It is a novel but also a history of philosophy from the earliest Greeks up to the 20th century existentialists. Sophie, a young girl on the eve of her 15th birthday, receives an invitation from a mysterious older teacher – Alberto Knox -- to study philosophy with him. First receiving written manuscripts from him she eventually meets him and they have sessions covering all the strands of philosophical thought over millennia. While their meetings are certainly unusual everything seems just peculiar until really odd things begin to happen. A video of modern day Athens transforms to show more a scene as the city appeared during the time of Socrates. Alberto’s dog speaks to Sophie; there’s a message inside a banana peel. In these messages and in other ways, there are repeated references to another girl her age who shares the same birthday that suggests they are soon to become friends, but “Hilde” lives two hundred miles away. There are frequent post cards containing birthday greetings for Hilde postmarked with the current date, but sent from Lebanon by a Norwegian major serving with UN peacekeepers. Things that can only be “unreal” start to happen to Sophie -- finding a cross belonging to Hilde who she’s never met, seeing mythological creatures and fairy tale characters and many more surreal occurrences.
The perspective shifts to Hilde and it’s suddenly clear that Sophie and Alberto are fictional creations of Hilde’s father, Major Albert Knag. The major has written this story for Hilde as a birthday present and to introduce her to serious philosophy. (It’s revealed late in the story that Hilde had been dabbling with “New Age” pop nonsense that had upset her father.) Alberto contends that he and Sophie are being controlled by the major and he doesn’t like this. He devises a plan to escape from his creator. He succeeds and they do make their “escape”. Is this really Albert’s plan? Not entirely since all authors ultimately lose control over their creations in that what they have created becomes independent of them and timeless, Alberto and Sophie will exist apart from Albert and forever.
The book is worthwhile as a clear and concise overview of the philosophical thinkers of the ages, but it is also an intriguing and fascinating story full of mystery, fantasy and suspense. show less

***NO SPOILERS***

(Full disclosure: Book abandoned on page 234 [out of 394 pages].)

The premise for Sophie's World is ingenious. It's a story about Sophie Amundsen, a sweet fourteen-year-old Norwegian girl who one day begins receiving mysterious letters. The letters are addressed to a girl named Hilde, a girl who sounds just like Sophie, right down to age--yet they come to Sophie's house and are meant for her.

These are highly unusual letters. They're about philosophy and the history of philosophy, each letter focusing on a different philosopher such as Aristotle, Sophocles, and Plato.

Jostein Gaarder's idea--of nonfiction philosophy lessons embedded in fictional mystery--is unique and clever, but it was all that impressed me about Sophie's show more World. The philosophy lessons overshadow Sophie's story to the point that Sophie's World is really just a philosophy textbook masquerading as a magical-realist mystery. This could be forgiven if the lessons were engaging, but they're dry as dust. This book has its fans, so clearly some disagree; however, even I, someone who looked forward to her philosophy classes in high school and college, was bored during most of each philosophy lesson.

The best parts of Sophie's World are the fictional parts--Sophie's actual world: the time spent with her friend, her reading of the letters in her garden hideout, her interactions with her mom. That is a story. Gaarder was a philosophy teacher, so it isn't really surprising that Sophie's World is so heavy on philosophy. It's just a shame, because the mystery and magical realism elements are smart and are deserving of at least as many pages.

This was such a missed opportunity that I feel disappointed for Gaarder. Philosophy is like history; it needs to be brought to life to be fully appreciated. In the case of philosophy in particular, it's helpful to find a connection to one's own life in some way.

By grounding the lessons in the story of an everyday girl, that's what Gaarder was going for, but he didn't integrate and connect the lessons to the main character's life successfully. The lessons remain a separate entity from the mystery so that Sophie's World feels like someone ripped chapters out of a textbook and inserted them between chapters of a mystery story. What I wanted to see, what I was hoping for, was a book that was mostly a mystery with a sprinkling of philosophy--philosophy that then interacted with the mystery in ways that add dimension and pleasant surprise.

Although I read more than half of Sophie's World, I was so bored I couldn't bear reading another page. I was, however, curious enough to know how it ended that I looked up a plot summary. It looks like Gaarder finally connected all the philosophy lessons in a whirlwind at the end and that this is when the story is at its best. If only he'd connected throughout, Sophie's World would be a much better book.

I don't recommend this widely, and I don't know who its ideal audience is. I think Sophie's World is best suited to die-hard philosophy lovers only; however, with its child protagonist (and a child protagonist who's unwittingly drawn into philosophy lessons at that), Sophie's World seems aimed at teens, as an educational mystery.

In addition to being dull, though, the philosophy is dense and obscure at times. Those teens who do read and enjoy Sophie's World may not fully grasp its various philosophies. High school philosophy teachers could have students read it as a supplement (or maybe not, as it's not so different from a straight textbook).

Adult readers could enjoy this, but that's unlikely if they're not interested in philosophy. Adapted as a graphic novel--a format I think would work beautifully for Sophie's World--it might attract a wider variety of readers, and actually be fun to read.

The fact that it's hard to pin down Sophie's World’s intended audience is further proof to me that Gaarder began writing his book more on the fly than with fully thought-out deliberation. Sadly, what he ended up with is a dull textbook with a half-hearted mystery tossed in for palatability. show less

Ho ascoltato l'audiolibro letto da Alessandra Casella e Gabriele Parrillo. La Casella assolutamente eccezionale, sembrava di vederla recitare, una lettura viva, animata. Bravissima. Il testo è veramente bello, alternando capitoli di compendio filosofico in cui si racconta la storia della filosofia dall'antichità ad oggi, a capitoli in cui viene intrecciata una storia che alla fine ho trovato un po' assurda e forse un po' leziosa. Ed è il motivo per cui non metto cinque stelle. All'inizio sia i capitoli "tecnici" che quelli di racconto vero e proprio della trama ti tengono in attesa di saperne di più. Alla fine invece il pretesto ormai è chiaro e ho fatto un po' di fatica a finirlo. La valutazione per questo motivo è doppia. La show more parte filosofica merita un voto molto molto alto. I concetti vengono esposti in modo semplice, comprensibile, con tanti esempi, in un continuo contrappunto tra allieva e insegnante, che permette all'autore di attualizzare determinati messaggi. La parte dell'intreccio, del racconto, della trama è all'inizio carica di aspettative, per poi scadere nell'assurdo una volta vicini alla fine. Non che questo secondo livello di scrittura non abbia senso... Anche questo meccanismo alla fine serve per dare una sorta di quadro della vita dello spirito, del contatto tra due mondi, quello finito e quello infinito, ma mi ha messo un po' di malinconia. Un capolavoro il discorso finale sul cosmo, sulla grandezza infinita dell'universo, sulle ipotesi di universo in perenne espansione e un universo invece visto come cicli di contrazione ed espansione: il cosmo come enorme cuore che batte. Veramente consigliato, ma ahimé non per tutti. Può essere un buonissimo compendio per uno studente che si avvicina alla materia, e per chi come me la materia l'ha studiata bene è un testo veramente bello ed efficace. Ma per chi non ha passione per questi argomenti diventa un testo pesante e la cui trama "giocosa" diventa evanescente. Non credo lo possa affrontare chiunque. show less

It's an international bestseller which for some reason I had never heard of until suddenly I found it on my library holds list (I don't remember placing it there but I guess one night I was cruising the library website half asleep). It's translated into English from Norwegian so that might be why it caught my eye (Remember my obsession with Swedish translations? I'm branching out.) or it could be because it's a book on philosophy. I had little to no knowledge about the great philosophers of the past or even what it meant to be a philosopher. I can happily say that is no longer the case. Not only did I learn about it but I experienced what it means to think philosophically...and I may have had an existential crisis as a result. The book show more starts out with Sophie who discovers a letter in her mailbox asking her questions such as "Who are you?". It snowballs into packets of lecture notes and suddenly she finds herself enrolled in a philosophy course with a professor who prefers to remain hidden. I don't want to give any more away because it's better to experience it for yourself. I guarantee you'll be scratching your head and asking "Who am I?" by the end. show less

Have you ever heard me say "Man! Philosophy is boring!" Well, if you have, I'm scared, because either you've met my evil twin, or you're stalking me when I'm in a particularly sarcastic mood.

Whichever the reason, please cease your activities as soon as possible.

If you, though, have ever uttered that phrase, I suggest you stop immediately before you pick up House and Philosophy, or even Popular Philosophy and Philosophy, and instead get Sophie's World.

When you read philosophical texts that appeal to the masses, you're usually going to get something watered down and easy for you to digest. Sophie's World, however, it a little different. It combines a story with philosophical teachings, and actually makes it more interesting than other show more authors who try to write philosophical novels and end up writing a 1000 page tome about relative objectivism and how we need to let capitalism run unhindered and how we need a gold standard and how we need less government interference, and well, a 1000 page book is pretty intimidating. Sophie's Wold is about half that size, and takes you on a journey through the ages of philosophy, showing how it influenced things like science and religion, and vice versa.

Sophie's a girl who mysteriously receives letters featuring philosophy lessons. Each day, the mysterious stranger introduces her to a new page in the annals of philosophy, and later that day, she sees it somehow applied in her every day life.

There is a layer of metafiction in this story, and if you know me, you know I love metafiction (if you thought you knew me, and knew that I hated it, you're dealing with my evil twin. Try to break that connection without letting him know you're on to him. He's pretty crafty).

Nevertheless, if you love philosophy, or want to start loving it but just can't wrap your mind around Atlas Shrugged or Republic, then the best place to start is in Sophie's world. Recommended for all fans and wannabe fans of philosophy (and metafiction). show less

Nos meus tempos de escola, nunca tive um grande interesse pela filosofia, em parte devido à forma como a disciplina foi apresentada e à professora que não conseguiu cativar-me. Era preciso um livro que despertasse o interesse do meu eu adolescente, que me fizesse ligar mais à matéria, e não apenas tratá-la como uma cadeira de memorizar conceitos e pessoas. É aqui que entra "O Mundo de Sofia". Este livro é único, combinando elementos de ficção com uma ampla variedade de conceitos filosóficos, desde a antiguidade até à filosofia moderna, através de um estilo narrativo acessível para jovens adultos.

O autor tem um estilo de escrita claro e acessível, tornando os conceitos filosóficos complexos apresentados no livro show more compreensíveis para leitores de todos os níveis. A bem-sucedida integração de ficção e filosofia adiciona um elemento interessante ao livro, tornando-o uma experiência de leitura verdadeiramente única e atraente.

No entanto, o ritmo da narrativa é bastante inconstante, com algumas partes da história (ou melhor, conceitos filosóficos) sendo melhor apresentados do que outros. Além disso, alguns conceitos filosóficos são simplificados ao ponto de serem excessivamente simplificados, o que para um principiante é ótimo, mas que me deixou a querer entrar mais em detalhes antes de avançar para o próximo.

Apesar destas limitações, "O Mundo de Sofia" continua a ser um livro bem escrito e interessante, oferecendo uma excelente introdução à filosofia para leitores de todos os níveis. Para quem procura uma forma envolvente e única de aprender sobre filosofia, recomendo vivamente este livro.

Eu adorei descobrir o meu amor pela filosofia graças a este livro e gostei imenso da história e da reflexão que me fez ter. Embora não tenha gostado dos personagens, especialmente de Sofia, gostei da história e do final. No entanto, fiquei com vontade de saber mais sobre algumas filosofias e conceitos em detalhes. Este livro fez-me pensar em procurar outros livros de filosofia, o que significa que a sua missão foi cumprida.

Daria a este livro uma classificação de 4.5/5. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1739977.html

I rather enjoyed this: a canter through the history of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratics to Sartre, as told in a series of mysterious communications from an enigmatic teacher to instruct 14-year-old Sophie. I loved the moment when she learns about Aristotle and immediately goes home and tidies her room - would this tactic work for real teenagers, I wonder?

Then the narrative form abruptly lurches sideways about two-thirds of the way through, and we realise that this is not quite the book we thought we were reading - and in fairness it is a move that has been well enough signalled. This leaves Gaarder with minor difficulties in resolving the plot, but that doesn't matter all that much.

On show more the substance: I have (whisper it softly) never been terribly excited about philosophy, but Gaarder does unpack the relationship between Hegel and Kant better than I have seen elsewhere, and also guided me through the relationship between philosophy and literature (at least of the last three centuries or so). So I learned something, which was partly the point. show less