Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

Do you ever wonder where we came from?? How was the Universe formed and is there a God and if so who created him?? Is he actually a he could he be a she? I often think about these types of things. I have taken a formal course in Philosophy as I took it as my third subject in my first year at Stirling University. However I deliberately failed it as I just found it far too airy fairy as we seemed to spend most of our time in seminars debating whether the table really existed However I gave philosophy a second chance by reading Sophie?s World by the Norwegian philosophical writer Jostien Gaarder. The book was translated into English by Paulette Moller Sophie?s ...  Read the complete review

Sophie Amundsen is just an average fourteen year old teenage girl living in Norway in 1990. She lives a simple life with her mother and her cat Sherekan, but her life is profoundly affected when she receives a letter out of the blue. In the letter are posed two questions: 'Who are you?' and 'Where did you come from?'. Thus unfolds a convoluted story in which Sophie begins a series of letter exchanges with the mysterious Alberto Knox. The two soon meet up and Albert dishes out his wisdom in person. Even though other characters populate the novel including Sophie's friends and even some fairy tale characters, the exchanges between Sophie and Albert form the backbone of the ...  Read the complete review

Sophies World is probably the best known of Jostein Gaarder's books, and also probably the most critically acclaimed. In my earlier version of this review I pointed out that "The name betrays the fact that the author is Norwegian, and the fame of this book betrays the fact that it isn't his first novel- only his most succesful so far." However it seems that, at least at my local bookshops, his books have been opened to a wider audience now. In case you haven't read it yet, here is my opinion from when I had first read it, with only minor modifications made to ease your way! The book is billed as a history of philosophy, yet it is much ...  Read the complete review

Do you ever wonder, where did the world come from? This book is linked with Philosophy and I am taking this at a-level and think it really does help to read this book. The book itself involves a normal teenage girl named Sophie who one day receives a letter in the post from a philosopher which kick starts her roller coaster ride through 3000 years of Western Philosophy and along the way, it tackles some extremely large questions. This leads Sophie into deep mystery and leaves her wondering about her own life and who she is! Advantages of this book are, if you study Philosophy it can be very helpful to look through as it goes through basically all ...  Read the complete review

Who would have thought that you could write a history of Philosophy, and still make it extremely fun and exciting? Who would have thought you could use the ideas of Philosophy and put them into practise in a twisting plot? Well, somehow, Jostein Gaarder has done just this. Already a much acclaimed novel, Sophie's world, is a twin book of the novel "the Solitaire Mystery" (read my op. on that too!). In essense, it is a history of Philosophy, covering the entire life of this rather bizzare subject, from Ancient Greek Philosophers, such as Socrates and Plato, to the present day Philosophers such as Marx and Freud. Somehow, ...  Read the complete review