Rating: 
Summary: A whole new world.
Review: I am fourteen years old and I read this book when I was twelve...close to thirteen *smile* and it was an amazing discovery for me. Even the next year when I did a book report on it at thirteen most of my friends pointed out and commented that their mother's and father's had read the book etc. I think the fact that this book is a philosophy book really gets on people's nerves and makes everyone hesitate before letting themselves actually the pick the book up. This book should be thought of as a plain, story. It may be explaining 300years of philosophy and history but it's explained so vividly and in such an imaginative way that to be honest I really don't think it's that difficult at all. Of course it gets a little confusing and because I was young I read it twice before really understanding it. But it is one amazingly interesting book even away from the fact that it is based on complex and confusing thoughts and matters of life. You honestly get a completely different view from it. Most of my friends have read it now at the age of 14 and they all love it very much. Some find it confusing, others find it logical for some awkward reason and many others say that they now have a completely different perspective to life altogether. It is one book that you really shouldn't miss out on.
Rating: 
Summary: as good as cliff's notes--and you know how good those are
Review: If you're already pretty familiar with western philosophy, this book will read like a Cliff's Notes stitched awkwardly to a weak story. The plot became tedious after a while, and I thought the writing style was childish. This could have been due to poor translation, but I doubt it. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book if I'd encountered it when I was a child, as this seems to be the author's intended audience. If you're interested enough in philosophy to even consider reading this book, you should read the real thing or at least better introductory books on the subject. Philosophy: An Introduction Through Literature by Kleiman and Lewis is a good bet.
Rating:
Summary: interesante introduccion a la filosofia
Review: la filosofia, vista por muchas personas como una maraña de ideas extranas y que no son de facil lectura son expuestas en este libro de manera amena y divertida. vemos como cada idea es puesta una sobre la otra, como cada filosofo contradice y sucede al proximo y apoyados en las ideas anteriores hacen sus tesis. aun la filosofia no ha podido contestar las grandes inquietudes humanas, de donde venimos y hacia donde vamos, que somos realmente, porque estamos aqui, tenemos una mision o nuestra vida es solo una sucesion de eventos sin direccion alguna que es el tiempo corremos a traves de el, o es el quien nos atraviesa mientras permanecemos estaticos y a merced de sus garras. somos acaso la invencion de los dioses, un sueno que alguien sono? o un libro que alguien escribe y nosotros simples personajes de historieta a merced de nuestro dios escritor, nuestro dios interprete.la novela, escrita en esa forma tan didactica que ensena sin ser sentenciosa y sin juzgar, solo exponiendo las ideas de manera clara para que sean entendidas en la medida de lo posible y para que nosotros hagamos nuestros propios juicios y nuestras propias filosofias hacen de este libro una joya para cualquiera que desee comenzar a estudiar literatura sin el estorbo de la exposicion de las ideas y la oscuridad de los conceptos. ya que un adolescente no entenderia la tematica de un schopenhauer o de un paine, pero es mejor que lea una exposicion de sus ideas de manera clara y despues puede leer el original. ojala todas las sofias contaran con maestros asi. LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do
Rating: 
Summary: Very good piece, but some issues.
Review: I though Sophie's World was a great book. It does a really nice job of covering philosophy and philosophers from the ancient times (like Plato, Anaximander, and Socrates), up to more modern times (Freud, Marx.) I rated this book with four stars because of two main reasons. Reason one is how the philosophy is taught through the mail is unclear, and reason two is that sometimes you can get lost in the many plots being presented at once. Overall, a great introduction to this very broad field.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkably original and thought-provoking
Review: "Sophie's World" is exceptional. It offers a detailed overview of the history of philosophy as well as a delightfully innocent and intriguing mystery. Very informative and eminemtly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Review: It is an extremely wonderful story that will captivate you. A little bizarre for a while, but for understandable reasons that can only be discovered by finishing the whole book. A great introductoy book into the world of philosophy. It gives an overview of most of the worlds famous philosophers which I found to be educational.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophy made relatively painless
Review: I love Gaardner as a writer. He writes books about the magic of growing up and discovering things. This is one of his toughest books because the young girl and main character finds these secret packages containing chunks of the history of philosophy. Although I'm far from a philosophy expert, I find Gaardner's explications a heck of a lot easier to understand than many of the philosophers themselves or the critics who try to explain them. Short of a philosophy course, this is the best introduction to the major figures of philosophy you're likely to find, andit's twisted throughout a novel about growing up. What an imagination!
Rating:
Summary: Gold Stars
Review: Sophie's World is beautifully written and masterfully crafted as a clever introduction into Western Philosophy. This book is unique in that it presents an outline of Western thought easily understandable by both seventh graders and baby boomers. Golden!
Rating:
Summary: Basically, a glorified textbook on philosophy
Review: While this is an interesting book, it is nothing more than a glorified textbook of an introduction to philosophy. The novel is the fine web that keeps everything together. Enjoyable at times; stifling at others. For anyone with any familiarity with philosophic theory, this book will get boring. Overall, enjoyable, but NOT an easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Journey into the self
Review: Philosophy is certainly a complex matter if one researches in how it has come to be and what is happening to it at present. When one comes to encounter it, usually as part of the required subjects to be taken in college, one would generally be overwhelmed by the myriad ways of thinking that diverge and do battle in Philosophy. So if you need a primer, what better way than through a lecture in the form of a story? This metafiction-cum-lecture is the easiest way to get a grip on how man thinks about himself and secures his place in the cosmos. Divided carefully into letters which contain the lectures, it provides for easy transition from one mode of thinking to another. And since it's in the form of a story, one need not get bored as it goes on. This book is best read when one is only at the doorstep of understanding philosophy. And believe me, this book is just the ticket to loving it.
| 
