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

Rating:
Summary: Simplicity without trivializing.
Review: The major achievement of Gaarder's book is the way he brilliantly conveys complex ideas in a simple language without trivializing these ideas.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book and very useful for clever kids!
Review: Gaarder's novel is at the same time a good narrative book and a pedagogical tale, very useful for children: this book will help them to give an answer to many essential questions about world, nature, science, religion. The writing is easy, and even toughest concepts become simple thanks to Gaarder's expositive clarity. A perfect birthday present for any boy or girl who wants to know more and more about the world.

Rating:
Summary: wowie of a book
Review: it's sad that people that have thus far written reviews seem to miss the point of the storyline behind the history of philosophy. has anyone thought to think of the plot as a bit of philosophy itself?!? what gaarder does is reveal post-modern philosophy in a very hidden way. at the end when things start going haywire, that is mr. gaarder poking fun at all that is post-modern. duh.

Rating:
Summary: Want to travel in time and space while you learn?
Review: Reading " Sophie s World " was a fascinating journey. You not only travel in time but you go to places you never imagined you would be. Yes! it was quite an emotional and learning experience as well. I recommend this book to all citizens of the world because I found that there is a common point in it where we all meet, regardless of our differences in culture, nationalities, ethnicity, and so on... that separate us and takes us into a divided world. We all have a tendency towards the same philosophical questioning and Jostein Gaarder gets to our most inner sensitivity; just as he was able to create Sophie, he dares us to see our lives from the perspective of a perfect, well elaborated creation. At the same time and as most of the reviews state, this is a book that gives the basics to get started in philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: This book is sweeeeeet
Review: This is a really good book, you can tell from the beginning. The philosopher can get confusing and the last half of the book is....interesting! Read it! If you are studying pilosophy, it will help!

Rating:
Summary: A.A- The Times Literary Supplement:
Review: Jostein Gaarder gives us an epic pedagogical run for our money. Plato, Descartes, Berkeley and Freud share the same twilight zone as Winnie-the-Pooh, Aladdin and Cinderella. . . . Having been whisked through centuries crowded with great thinkers, it is perhaps greedy curiosity which prompts this Alice to scour Gaarder's Wonderland in search of more characters. . . . We discover that Anaxagoras was kicked out of ancient Athens for calling the sun a hot stone rather than a god; but we never find out why Sophie's Dad doesn't come home, how she feels about drugs, make-up and boyfriends--what makes her tick. . . . The book is, nevertheless, a seductive and original induction into Gaarder's world of existential wonder. An international bestseller which began as a philosophy primer written by a schoolteacher in Norway--whichever way you shelve it, Sophie's World is, as it dares to congratulate itself, 'a strange and wonderful book.'

Rating:
Summary: From J.S. The Economist:
Review: Mr Gaarder has written a marvellous piece of narrative fiction that has embedded within it the history of western philosophy. . . . The writing has clarity, an ease of style, and a way of presenting difficult ideas simply. Just occasionally an 'international bestseller' is not a tasteless confection of tripe and hype. 'Sophie's World' is such a book. It leaves you wondering a little at the world--rather in the way that children do.

Rating:
Summary: The most clever book I have ever read.
Review: Gaardner stretches the mind. His clever tale pushes one to question the very existence of the reality perceived. One cannot help but fall in love with his little girl and her search for understanding.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant!
Review: This is undoubtedly the most incredible, sensational, whimsical, ingenious, intruiging, amazing, unbeliveable, fantastic book I have ever read. Reading this book is imperative to anyone, but I reccomend it as a perfect birthday present for any 15-year-old girl. It serves as a splendid introduction to philosophy and a captivating novel that leaves you spellbound and hungry for more. If you dont belive me, read it for yourself ...

Rating:
Summary: A tolerable intro text, but not a novel.
Review: What a disappointing book! This isn't, as subtitle suggests, a novel ABOUT the history of philosophy. It merely retells the history of Western philosophy, classical Greece through existentialism.(Aren't there any Eastern or modern philosophers?) As such it is competent enough, but if you've had the usual smattering in school you know most of this already. Though much of it is presented in dialogue, it is really a monologue with occasional, mostly content-free interruptions. Innovative rebuttals, connections, and perspectives are conspicuous by their absence. There certainly is a fantasy story here too, and what there is of it is entertaining, though it rarely rises to fully realized characters or to a true sense of wonder and ambiguity that might render it three-dimensional. But it is sparse indeed - the first significant developments occur on page 293 - and it does not, as I hoped it would, engage with the historical narrative as illustrative metaphor, as dissent, or as counterpoint. With the exception of some rather heavy handed dramatic irony, the two stories seem almost shuffled together at random: interspersed certainly, but hardly interwoven. As a clearly explained, unintimidating introduction to philosophy it is fine, but as a novel it comes up pretty short. If you want a philosophical novel, I'd suggest Rebecca Goldstein's The Mind Body Problem instead.