Rating: 
Summary: I'm not a child, and I enjoyed it!
Review: I'm a middle-aged person and I know very little about philosophy, having taken an introductory philosophy course over 35 years ago in college. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I took it from the library, thinking it was Sophie's Choice. I soon discovered my mistake, but it turned out fine. In middle life, after your parents die and perhaps other friends or parents of friends, you begin to think much more about the meaning of life, eternity, the soul, etc. Having very little academic background but lots of ideas of my own, I loved reading about the history of thought. I recommend the book to anyone not too conceited, who has not studied philosophy and has questions about where all this came from, eternity, the soul, God, life...
Rating: 
Summary: A mere bagatelle...
Review: This is a very original book. Sophie Almundsen starts unwittingly a correspondence course on Philosophy. Weird things start to happen, and it gets weirder and weirder to a point that makes you feel sorry for her. Maybe Gaarder's point is that one does not learn philosophy lightly: it is something that should change one's outlook and "rock their world" (hopefully not so much as in poor Sophie's case). The lessons are very informative, but one can see that Gaarder lost some steam towards the end; the coverage of the philosophers became very compressed as one goes past the Enlightenment. Although the philosophy course must be succint by necessity, I think the selection of his featured "philosophers" is lacking. For example, as someone mentioned, he devotes a paragraph to Nietzsche, but entire chapters to Freud and Darwin. He also completely left out one of the most important and original philosophers of the 20th century, Karl Popper. He says very little about Logic and the Philosophy of Science and of Mathematics. But I think this does not take away from the overall appeal of this book. Finally, where some reviewers seem to think the story is "arbitrary", especially towards the end, I think it is actually a subtle self-joke and very well in keeping with the plot of the book. The point is after all that Gaarder is pulling the strings on *his* universe, and everything for him is a "mere bagatelle."
Rating: 
Summary: Weird hard to categorize book
Review: This book has two distinct parts, a very "dreamy" novel and a course in philosophy. It begins with Sophie Amundsen, a 15 year old girl in Norway in the late twentieth a century, receiving mail from a mysterious stranger, mail that turns out to be a course in philosophy. I found the history of philosophy as presented here interesting, some of the philosophers named here were somewhat familiar to me and I learned more, I liked the author's way of making connections from one stream of thought to the next over the centuries. However when I came across anyone I know a great deal about such as Darwin or Freud, I found those sections of the book to be quite shallow and biased as well as to what was included. I would have liked to have seen him go further with the twentieth century, how could he think of leaving out Carl Jung in a book like this???? The novel part of the book was totally unappealing to me, it just became too ridiculous. Alice in Wonderland herself is a character, and the story seemed like wonderland to me something a mind under the influence of strong drugs might "dream" up. Like a book for children but too mature for children.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely An Interesting Mix!
Review: Sophie's World starts off like a Intro to Philosophy course that's been made into a fictional story. There's nice little bits about Sophie/her philosophy teacher thown in as a nice break from the academic nature of the "philosophy course"...but then it starts to get really off-balance and confusing and your entire concept of Sophie's reality goes for a 360 degrees loop! And then the perception of Sophie's world seems to have always been clear and it all makes sense again. And then it all goes weird again. This book is completley frustrating, yet completely addicting. When you've finished, you feel as though you've gained way too much knowledge in way too short of time (well, if you're new to the history of philosophy), yet the end destination completely makes sense and makes the journey of the book worth it. As one of the reviewers on the back on the book said, mix together an Intro. to Phil. textbook with an Alice in Wonderland type fantasy - and you've got Sophie's World. It's an interesting mix of having to rely heavily both on your logic and your suspension of disbelief - your mind/brain/thinking part will definitely get a workout!! :)
Rating:
Summary: I only recommend it for beginners....
Review: this book does not spend enough time on the different philosophers and their beliefs. I would recommend books that just concentrate on one or two philosophers. However, this is an interesting read and good for an introduction to philosophers and their beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: R¢í¢ë¢÷¢õ¢õ¢í¢ö¢ì¢é¢ê¢ô¢í for everyone* :]
Review: To be honest,I'm so impressed w/ the ideas and philosophical theories which are being deliberately carried out throughout the plot.Though,it was the fact that,the characters were not specifically rendered in the novel,it still had the power to make the novel enjoyable on the whole.
I'm actually interested in philosophy but to a certain extent, I don't know how to start it and don't know where can I start it.However,once I started reading this book,I can't stop.It really helps!I recommend it for everyone,especially youngsters.It should be the beginning of our-personal-philosophy_course.After reading it,I really think that philosophy course should be setted as one of the school's syllabus.Every1 needs philosophy.Every1 needs questioning.
So,it's time for you to know about yourself as well as the world you lived in.And,I'm sure u'll enjoy the book!!!Don't miss it!!!*:]
Rating:
Summary: Sophie's World Review
Review: Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, brilliantly combines philosophy and the story of a curious teenage girl named Sophie, who opens up her mind to the vast world of philosophy around her. Gaarder explains theory in a way that makes the subject almost seem easy to understand, while covering the great philosophers such as Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Darwin, Freud, and several other great world thinkers. At first, the book reads as a poor attempt at being a novel, when the author is actually using a fictional tale as an outlet to switch between past theories, and relate them to the present, Sophie's World.
The book mixes creativity with intellect to help the reader visualize each concept. For example, Democritus' theory that the Lego is "the most ingenious toy in the world," is explained using Sophie as a puppet who reads about this idea and pulls down her old legos from the top shelf. Not only does this explain the theory in depth, but the author finds a way to break philosophy down and apply each idea to our everyday lives.
Gaarder also uses imagery to explain how philosophy got started. The narrator of the "philosophy lessons" explains Plato and Socrates' ideas on the world through a video filmed in Athens. He walks the camera through the Acropolis, around temples, one being the great Parthenon, past the Dionysus Theatre, and through the ancient city. Through detailed description, the reader gets a clear image of the town where philosophy began, and is able to visualize the beauty of Athens and the great orators in the streets teaching and debating the philosophies of life.
Along with theory, the book covers history, which is a necessity in order to understand philosophy and the evolution of thought. Each chapter jumps from one philosopher to the next explaining how, when, and where each idea began. One interesting idea is "the collision between Greek Philosophy and the doctrine of Christian redemption" from the visit of the Pharisee Paul in Athens. Apparently, Paul came to the city and convinced the Athenian philosophers of Jesus' resurrection, which created a whole new perspective on things, and in a way, tied science and religion together. The Semites actually had a theory on history and how time works. Their theory was about this ongoing line (also known as history), created by god, that started at the creation of the world, and ended on what they called "Judgment Day," the day that god judges the living and the dead, the day that all evil is destroyed. With this theory in mind, the Semites spent thousands of years recording history and it was these historical roots that "constitute the very core of their holy scriptures."
By the time I finished this incredibly informative book, I had a great understanding of each philosopher and their theories on life, and felt quite comfortable with the ideas that Gaarder explains. Having read Sophie's World, I now know about certain ideas that I have always been curious about, but would have never taken the time to research in depth. As well as educating myself on others theories, I began to develop some ideas of my own. Furthermore, Jostein Gaarder's masterpiece not only interested me, but it provided the stable information needed to write an essay, and possibly the inspiration to becoming a philosopher myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying
Review: The concept of this book is fairly interesting. A teenage girl begins to receive letters from a stranger. He introduces her to philosophy in terms of a chronological study of the major philosophers from the Greeks to the likes of Sartre. As such, the book describes an easy approach to philosophy for a teenager and it presents itself also as such. However, it all became too much for me. The whole thing is quite pedantic. Most readers of all ages will not be able to identify with the characters Hilde and Sophie very well. As such, the actual story (outside the notes on philosophy) is basically a backdrop and definitely reads as such. As for the notes, they may be regarded well by some but patronising by others. When the major thoughts of a philosophical school or personality are reduced to ten pages of pop-style explanations (which in itself isn't a bad way of presenting it), it requires excellent organisation to make the text both representative of the philosopher and interesting. Gaarder has done neither in my opinion. A mildly useful read in terms of acquainting oneself with the major philosophers. There are many better texts for that purpose though.
Rating:
Summary: Good intro to philosophy
Review: I enjoyed the story of a young persons introduction to philosophy. As a novel, it lacks something. A perfect book for my 14 year old neice who is excited about learning and is preparing for college in a few years.
Rating:
Summary: Meta-Philosophy
Review: Jostein Gaarder uses metafiction as a tool to emphasize the predominant questions of philosophy: Who are you? and Where do do you/we come from? Sophie Anundson receives mysterious letters from Alberto Knox ostensibly to teach her lessons in the history of philosophy. Interspersed with her lessons is the mystery of Hilde Moller Knag and her father who maintain a correspondance through the unwitting Sophie. The mystery of Hilde and her father's identity (and for that matter Sophie and Alberto's identity)is revealed at the time when Alberto is beginning his lecture on the Enlightenment (ha, ha). This is one of the annoying problems with the novel: it all reads like a high school philosophy coarse and, like most metafiction, is too involved in style and technique (not to mention the author's self-indulgance) to be bothered with insignificant matters like plot or character development. It is all excessively tedious and only remotely interesting. But the author raises very interesting questions, however simplistic his and obviously slanted his answers may be. For better metafiction read italo Calvino's "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler." For a better rendition of the history of philosophy read: "A Short History of Philosophy" by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins. For a better book by Gaarder read "The Solitaire Mystery"
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