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

Average rating: 5/5

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

by Jostein Gaarder
Translated by: Paulette Møller
Read by: Simon Vance

Macmillan Audio | March 20, 2007 | Audio Book (CD)

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: Who are you? and Where does the world come from? From that strange--but irresistible--beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with these and other questions that explore matters both small and large, some that take her mind far beyond what she knows of her family and life in her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving a separate batch of equally unusual letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up in Sophie''s world? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must make use of the philosophy she is learning--but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.
 
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie''s World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, having been translated into forty-five languages and with over twenty million copies in print.

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Reviews

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      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    Why I loved this book

    Étienne Paquette

    2 years ago

    I’m about to finish the book Sophie’s world and I really think it’s a book that everyone should read. It’s amazing how Jostein Gaarder can resume the history of philosophy in such a clear way. Even if it’s full of very complex concepts and theories, it’s so easy to read and to understand. A very good book that will makes you think about yourself and about the world.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    I just finished reading Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder.

    This book is sooooo insightful and so amazing it will blow your mind away.

    It's like Philosophy for dummies, gives you the ideas behind each school of thought and explains it quite well.

    It's starts with the Garden of Eden, the natural philosophers, Fate, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and keeps going until it reaches Marx , Darwin, Freud and finally ending with the big bang.

    What I loved about the book is that it tells philosophy in novel format, mixing the story of a 14 year old, Sophie, who starts receiving mysterious letters in the mail asking her very hard questions like: What is Philosophy? Who are you? And Where does the world come from?

    The sender of these letters is an old man called Alberto Knox. With his letters Alberto and Sophie start exploring the intriguing world of Philosophy.

    This Novel is fantasy colliding with reality where you are forced to think about Religion, Science the Universe , God and way more important things than what you usually think about, unless of course, you are a philosopher.

    A page turner, didn't want to put it down. Might be difficult in some spots but definitely an extraordinary book to read.

    I rarely read a book twice but I will definitely read this one again because its going on the list of my favorite books of all time. It even might be number one.

    Go read it.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    What a World!

    BK Social Psych.

    3 years ago

    I kid you not, this is an amazing introduction to the history of ideas. Philosophy has a reputation of being abstract and irrelevant to everyday life. Through out the book Gaarder makes philosophy exciting and relevant to the protagonist, and in doing so the reader is caught up in the excitement. You cant put this book down as you anticipate how the author will weave thinkers like Kant or Sartre through out the plot. It makes you wonder why there are not more books of this genre. Imagine the ideas and thinkers of economics, politics, psychology and sociology coming alive in fictional stories for young adults. Don't be fooled, this book has something for the wise sage too.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Michelle

    Rating: 5/5

    Sophie's World

    Michelle

    13 years ago

    An intriguing novel with a side helping of beginner's philosophy. Within the first few pages you are thrust in to Sophie's world, and find yourself just as eager as Sophie to discover the answers to life's most influential philosophers. This book is for anyone who has a passion for philosophy, and wants to unlock the abswers to some of life's great questions.

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Details

From the Publisher

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: Who are you? and Where does the world come from? From that strange--but irresistible--beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with these and other questions that explore matters both small and large, some that take her mind far beyond what she knows of her family and life in her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving a separate batch of equally unusual letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up in Sophie''s world? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must make use of the philosophy she is learning--but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.
 
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie''s World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, having been translated into forty-five languages and with over twenty million copies in print.

About the Author

Jostein Gaarder was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1952. He taught high school philosophy for several years, before publishing a collection of short stories in 1986 and, shortly thereafter, his first two novels, The Solitaire Mystery and Sophie's World, and several others since then. He lives in Oslo with his family.
 
Simon Vance is the critically acclaimed narrator of approximately 400 audiobooks, winner of twenty-seven AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a twelve-time Audie nominee (including three nominations for the 2007 multi-cast recording of Dune). He won an Audie in 2006 in the category of Science Fiction and was named the 2009 Best Voice in Fiction & Classics and the 2008 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense by AudioFile magazine.
 
Simon has been a narrator for the past twenty-five years, and he also worked for many years as a BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London.  Some of his best-selling and most critically acclaimed performances include Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother, Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series (all 21 titles), the new productions of Frank Herbert's original Dune series, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Rob Gifford's China Road (an AudioFile 2007 Book of the Year). Simon lives near San Francisco with his wife and two sons.

Audio Book (CD)

0 Pages, 5.3 x 5.79 x 1.98 in

March 20, 2007

Macmillan Audio

English


1427200874
9781427200877

From the Critics

Praise for Sophie''s World:
 
"Extraordinary.read it for yourself."--Newsweek
 
"A simply wonderful, irresistible book...a cross between Bertrand Russell''s History of Western Philosophy and Alice in Wonderland."--Daily Telegraph
 
"Sophie''s World is sheer delight. How I wish I''d had it during my college freshman survey of philosophy!"--Madeleine L''Engle

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