Rating: 
Summary: A philosophy book hidden in a novel
Review: This is an excellent novel for both teens and adults. We slowly learn about philosophy as Sophie receives lessons from her teacher. We are given quite a bit of detail about philosophers as well as what historical factors influenced them. This information is sandwiched between a narrative about Sophie and the mysterious events surrounding her up coming birthday. Not only was the ending a surprise but Gaarder keeps you guessing throughout the book. There is definitally no formula ending here! Overall I found the book to be enjoyable and thought provoking. I would especially recommend it for teenagers. It helps to you to see the world from a completely different angle.
Rating:
Summary: Good Information
Review: As the title "Sophie's World : A Novel About the History of Philosophy" says, this sure is a novel about the history of philosophy. Jostein Gaarder did a reasonable good job in holding the reader's attention through the philosophical lessons using a very novel plot (it is not very difficult for the history of philosophy to be dry.) I developed a very keen interest in philosophy recently but I never had a formal education in philosophy. This book was like a text book in philosophy for me. I think this is a must read for every novice philosopher (might still be a good read for others too)
Rating: 
Summary: Sophie's World
Review: This book was really, really bad. IF not for the fact I was forced to read every little poorly written page for my class, i would have stopped on page 2. Do not get this pile of paper that some one has tried to pass off as a book. IT is nothing more than a textbook that has a pointless and stupid story line. The author seems to have never met any one in their teens because the young girl in this is way to smart for her age. Not to menchian the fact that she follows the direction of a complete stanger. Buy this and suffer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Misleading and sends wrong message to kids.
Review: I think this book is not good. Evidently, the author does not live in the 21st century or has never known a 14 year old girl. He makes this girl invite someone who she doesn't even know to her house. And she tells him when her mom will not be home. I mean, this guy could have been some weirdo and could have done anything to her. And who doesn't know that a mirror is just a piece of glass? Please... I thought she was seven. And the little messenger... OF COURSE IT WAS A DOG!!!What moron can't figure that out. I knew it the first time she received a wet letter with holes. Gosh! This author needs to get a clue. I'm very upset that this book is being assigned in school and giving out the message to kids to invite strangers over and trust people you don't know. This book is not good enough to be considered a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Informative and Interesting
Review: This book was just absolutely fascinating. On the first page Sophie opens up her mailbox and finds a mysterious note, and from then on you are caught up in the story of Sophie, her mysterious professor of philosophy, Hilde, and many others. While the story kept me on my toes guessing what was going to happen next, the parts on the history of philosophy were very interesting. I actually had to read this for my AP European History class, so I was glad it was so interesting. I beleive that you should read it if you want to read an intense novel with many facts. This is not a light read but is very enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Exotic
Review: I advise everyone to read this book through it's facinating tale of true friendship, the natural history of the world and the philosophical history that comes with it. It has been a great eye opener for me. I will tell all the people I know to read this truely wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: A novel?
Review: This is possibly the worst "novel" I have EVER read! It's more like a textbook about the history of philosophy, but with an increadibly weak attempt at a plot. The subtitle is very deceiving. As for the writing--terrible! There were several incomplete sentences. I could definitely not call this "literature". When it was not boring, the whole book was just strange. The odd twist at the end was definitely not a satisfactory close. Don't waist your money on this piece of junk! If you want a lesson in philosophy, just buy a textbook-it would probably be more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read, but not without it's flaws....
Review: Sophie's World is a fine, but sketchy overview of the history of Philosophy and the evolution of Western Thought. Although I found it to be a rather engaging read, I do have a few gripes:1. Gaarder continued to perpetuate the "all roads lead to Greece" myth, forgetting the fact that all platonic and neo-platonic philosophy actually originated in Ancient Egypt thousands of years earlier. 2. Gaarder glossed over Nietzsche, the second greatest philosopher of the 19th century, while he devoted an entire chapter to Kierkegaard (certainly a great philosopher, but by no means Nietzsche's superior) 3. Gaarder pointed out Ecosophy, Neo-Thomism, and "New Age" pseudo-philosophy, but he completely ignored Deconstructionism (Foucault vs. Derrida), Neolinguistics (Chomsky, Korzybski), and, most importantly of all, Integral Philosophy and Transpersonal Theory (dominated by the two greatest living philosophers, Jurgen Habermas and Ken Wilber). This is a grevious oversight, since these are the philosophies that will be remembered when the Treehuggers, Aquarians, and Aquinians are dust in the trashbasket of civilization. Aside from those gripes, however, a worthy read. And contrary to what the other reviewers said, I found it a rather quick and easy read as well. (Of course, I'm used to the cacaphony of wierdness that assaults the reader at the end of the book, as I'm a great fan of the work of R.A. Wilson and Pete Carroll.)
Rating:
Summary: This does say novel
Review: That is right this is a novel about the history of philosophy. Now I can not say much about the other reviews that realize this is a novel because they are subjective to the reader. I personally found it fun to read and intriguing. Other reviews thought the ending was a little strange. I can not see a better one. Yes this is used as a beginning point to philosophy. So it is not nice for someone who already has a background in philosophy to dismiss this as sophomoric. Everyone has to start somewhere. I do not like phonics yet it works for some people. If you are already a philosopher then it is still an interesting novel with an interesting twist. This makes a good starting point in philosophy and a good stand-alone mystery
Rating:
Summary: Great storyline, easy way to learn or brush up on Philosphy
Review: This book was an exciting, intreging way to learn philosophy and still have a storyline. The story gravitates around the philosophy or philosopher you are looking at and includes symbols found throughout the book. The author made the philosophys so easy that I could understand it. If anyone has read the Parable of the Cave, well you know how hard that story and the idea behind it is, but the was the author describes it actually makes sense. I would definetly read this again.
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