Rating: 
Summary: a book to enjoy philosophy
Review: Reading books on philosophy issues, or about any specific philosopher, was always boring to me.
This book really made me enjoy the different ways different philosophers treated a same issue.
Because it's easy to read.
Because it's not boring.
Because it showed how philosophy thinking developed through the centuries, and even came back on the same way of thinking after centuries.
I haven't yet found another book on philosophy not boring.
RECOMMENDED
Rating:
Summary: Add this one to your best books list!
Review: This book just blew me away; even though it took a little bit of time adjusting to the tone and theme, the underlying philosophical questions, history, and credible information about western (and some eastern) civilizations provided for a highly entertaining and engaging read. The principles covered cannot even begin to compare to an introductory philosophy class. The way that the information is presented is a surefire way to commit the three thousand years of progress to memory! The plot slowly unfolds throughout the story, with some humor and interesting perspectives. This is NOT only a high-school only novel; actually, I had no idea high schoolers were reading this. I would highly recommend it to college-level and above, and anyone interested in history/philosophy in general. You MUST read this book. It is an excellent source for a worldview perspective, with a very informative history lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Use of Fantasy to Teach Philosophy
Review: This book is based on an ingenious idea. I was pleasantly surprised as the book took on creative twists. The storyline was suspenseful enough to keep me turning the pages while learning the history of philosophy. I was especially pleased with the ending. This book will startle your reality. You'll find yourself staring off into space thinking deeply about a concept you just read about. I want to keep this book to give when I have a daughter turning 15 one day. This book is destined to be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: the best book of ALL time!...
Review: i don't know why a bunch of people don't like this book and give it any less than the five stars it deserves. this is my favorite book ever. not only is it TWO stories in one, it also teaches the reader about the history of philosophy in an EASY and ENJOYABLE way and makes the reader look at the world in whole new ways!... what other novel does that?...
Rating:
Summary: the best book of ALL time!!!!
Review: i don't know why a bunch of people don't like this book, but i do. not only is it two stories in one, it also teaches the reader about the history of philosophy in an easy and enjoyable way, and makes the reader look at the world in a whole new way. this definantly deserves five stars. it should be ten stars on a five star scale.
Rating:
Summary: My all-time favorite book
Review: I just had to write a review for this book because it is my all-time favorite. It's a perfect introduction to the history of philosophy, but it's not dry like most text books. Instead, it is a story told through a child's eyes with a great plot line running through it. It covers all the major philosophers. My favorite aspect of this book is the fact that it ties all the philosopher's thoughts together, showing how each of them builds on previous philosophers. It's easy to understand and a quick read. For anyone interested in the history of philosophical thought and wants a brief over-view of major philosophers, let this book be first on your list. If you have taken a few philosophy classes like I have, you'll want to read this book as well because it ties the subject together in one cohesive book.
Rating: 
Summary: sorry excuse for both a novel and a history of philosophy
Review: I would've given this book 0 stars... This is a [bad] novel, and drags as a philosophy text. Sophie is just there as an excuse to make this book more than just a textbook. I thought I was reading just another text on philosophy, instead of an interesting novel... Do you honestly want to listen to this: "Kant also formulates the 'categorical imperative' in this way..." yada yada, yawn...boring!I think gaarder, honestly, should've just written a plain philosophy textbook because that way, you get what you expect: long philosophical departures and notions. Because gaarder attempted to lodge all this philosophy into a novel, he ends up producing a failure--a failure at a book as well as a failure as a philosophy text. Do not buy or read this book unless your philosophy professor forces you to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!
Review: I just have to say that those of you who are putting the book down really don't understand the meaning of the book. Sophie's World is meant to open new areas of thinking to the reader who may not have ever explored Philosohy if not for this book. I am 14 and found the book fascinating. Remember, the wisest man knows he knows nothing at all. You all obviously are NOT wise.
Rating: 
Summary: A whimsical novel worth the effort it takes to read it
Review: Sophie's World is a wonder of opposites. On one hand, we have little Sophie, and on the other, the wise old Albert (whose last name is still a mystery to me). We also have Sophie and Hilde, of whose identities I am still also confused upon. And overlying all this, is the great contrast between the simple, Little Prince-like story of Sophie and the expansive world of philosophy. The story of Sophie, simple, easy to read and quite charming, manages, through tiny details, to display her wide-eyed wonder pefectly. This story, of how Sophie begins, continues, and eventually ends a history of philosophy, is woven with a much more complicated story of the actual philosophies she learns. The author tells this story nearly as clearly as he does Sophie's, and I find it easy to picture him as a well-loved professor in his homeland of Sweden. His descriptions of such a complicated history are clear enough so that he gets the reader to both understand the philosophies while allowing space to be able to contemplate and discover the many-faceted nature of this science. And, for a beginner in philosophy (as most people are when reading this book), this approach is the best. Although the author overdoes the philosophy at times (the first few chapters can seem like reading a textbook), the descriptions and intrepretations of Kant, Socrates, Darwin, and Sartre are fascinating still. The book is long (just over 500 pages), and reading it in less than 10 sittings will be overwhelming. Also, the reader has to have a genuine interest in discovering new and different interpretations of ideas they may have already pondered and decided upon. The middle of the book is a complete mind boggler and hard to understand and comprehend. Once you do get it, though, Sophie's World becomes even more intriguing and fantastical.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: It is very easy to find fault with this book, especially if you are a philosopher. Indeed, Philosopher's like finding fault with things, especially Deconstructionist Philosophers like Derrida - who complicate everything. Some critics have said that this book fails as a novel but succeeds as an introduction to Philosophy. Another critic has said that, "In fact the book is not an introduction to philosophy at all but an introduction to the author's take on various philosophers, which is a very different thing." I'm simply going to say that this book was a fun exploration of Philosophy, and the fact that Gardener's view permeate the text made it that much more enjoyable. The book is not a complete history of philosophy, because many important thinkers and genres were left out. Nor is the book a "true" history of Philosophy, because such a history does not exist. As we all know, there are a variety of historical perspectives, and we see these from Copleston to Russell. All histories of Philosophy are injected with bias, opinions, and emphases characteristic of the author's personality and area of interest. In fact, that is what makes many of those works interesting in their own right. Take Hegel's Philosophy of History, for example. Objectively speaking, it is perhaps the worst History of Philosophy every written, and yet his vision of an organic philosophical spirit moving through history is breath-taking. Or take a Marxian history of Philosophy. Almost all Marx-inspired histories focus on class at the expense of everything else, from ideas to race. And yet for the Marxist, such histories are deemed important and true in the final sense of the word. Therefore, I must assess Gardner in her own right. For what she set out to accomplish and inspire, this book was a complete success. Namely, if you are new to philosophy, this book will do exactly what any good philosophical primer should do: It will pique your sense of wonder, while at the same time providing you with a fairly good introduction to Philosophy's most prominent thinkers. If you happen to enjoy the teenage plot and its strange conclusion, so much the better. Both Plato and Aristotle agreed that the origin of all Philosophy lies in wonder, and this book will provide the reader with a sense of philosophical wonder. I can think of no better place to begin the long journey.
|
