Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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

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

This story is set in Norway and begins when a young girl comes home from school one day and finds in the mail box a note with two questions on it. "Who are you?" & "Where does the world come from?" As the days go by Sophie finds herself enrolled in a correspondence course in philosophy. Each lesson contains a few pages on a particular philosopher. Though they are brief as to not weigh down the story, they are very comprehensive and easy to grasp. They start with the ancient philosophers and work their way through history to the more modern philosophers. Sophie also starts receiving mail addressed to a girl named Hilde, who from the post cards has lost a few things, things Sophie has found around her room, and not known why. As these strange things begin to happen more frequently, Sophie and her teacher have more and more philosophical discussions about life as they know it. I won't spoil it for you but there is wonderful plot twist at the end. Even if you don't have a particular interest in philosophy anyone who loves a book with a deep plot twist will enjoy this one, and maybe learn a bit, too. -- recommended by Kristen A. - Gere Branch Library

[ semi-official Sophie's World web site ] | [ Wikipedia page for Jostein Gaardner ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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