Sophie's World

A Novel About the History of Philosophy

By: Jostein Gaarder

Narrated by: Simon Vance

One day, 14-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find two notes in her mailbox, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?"

From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning - but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

A pause-resisting novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie's World has fired the imagination of listeners all over the world, having been translated into 45 languages and with over 20 million copies in print.

©1991 H. Aschelhoug and Co. (W. Nygaard), Oslo. Translation 1994 Paulette Moller (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Gaarder pulls off the difficult feat of blending philosophy and entertainment in a way that will capture [young adults'] interest and make them eager to explore further." (School Library Journal)
"First, think a beginner's guide to philosophy....Next, imagine a fantasy novel - something like a modern-day version of Through the Looking Glass. Meld these disparate genres, and what do you get? Well, what you get is an improbable international bestseller...[A] tour de force." (Time)
"Sophie's World is sheer delight. How I wish I'd had it during my college freshman survey of philosophy!" (Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time)

Sophie's World

The side story is kind of lightweight, and I almost put the novel down because of that, however, Sophie's narrative provides the little breaks in the philosphical passages that allow you to digest the ideas presented. Hardcore philosphy scholars will likely dismiss this as merely a broad overview of philosophic thought. However, for readers/listeners who would like to learn a little bit about philosphy without getting mired in Aristotle's lecture notes, this makes the subject seem accessible and maybe even a little engaging.

Alright

I followed along with the book. There were several chapters in which entire paragraphs or pages weren’t in the Audible recording. But over all this was good. Not a book I’d read for personal enjoyment. I had to read it for school.

Philosophy for the new philosopher

Are you new to being a philosopher? What do you mean you aren’t a philosopher, I seriously doubt that you are looking at this review and are anything but a lover of knowledge. But are you interested in understanding the question “what is it to live a good life?” This book won’t give you the answer, nor will it disclose to you new truth, but it will help you see that you’ve always been a philosopher, and help illuminate a long history of people seriously interested in finding truth.

This book is short history of philosophy bound in a bag of tales.

Overall a great survey of philosophy!

Loved the way the different philosophies were explained but not some of the the strange actions at the end.

loved the story book. great find, great read.

loved the story. after a few chapters it got a lot more interesting. ending was great.

captivating book aside from the Marxist lean

very captivating way to write about the history of philosophy. excellent book, with exception to the marxist/socialist/Communism worship and feminist preachings. but can be easily taken with a grain of thought. do recommend

Love it!

Love it! I love how they made it into a story. Young readers would love to read it and learn at the same time. Love the twist at the end of the story. I had a hardcopy of this book but I did not have enough time to read it so bought the audible version.

Loved it! Excellent narrator.

This book was recommended reading as part of a philosophy of nursing science and practice course. Although I listened to it many months after the completion of the course, it helped lay a foundation for understanding the timeline and rationale of philosophical thought. Excellent narrator. The story of was a bit long winded at times but still enjoyable.

Chapter 7 Skips

Great story, well done, and extremely informative. The only problem is Chapter 7 as shown on the playback (it really isn't Chapter 7) skips towards the end. It isn't egregious. If you have been paying attention you should be fine.

Avoid this particular recording

While the book itself is wonderful, it should be mentioned that this recording has missing sections (not abridged, but actual dropped audio) and some areas where chapters or sections seem to have been swapped.

For the most part, you'll be able in infer what has happened in the story, but it really is enough to take you out of the experience.