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Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy
Books: Computers: Artificial Intelligence: Item 8
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Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophyby Jostein Gaarder
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44 of 47 people found the following review helpful: A Good Idea for the Right Person, March 13, 2001 Reviewer:Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - Sophie's World has an interesting concept, but it is certainly not for everyone. I have some criticism of the book, but also some praise. First the criticism. This is really a philosophy text pretending to be a novel. (Which, I believe is ultimately a good thing). The characters are not that believable and are really just devices Gaarder uses to get his point across. The dialog is not believable either. Another potential problem for certain readers is that the philosophy lessons contained in this book are, in the novel, aimed at a 15 year old girl. If you have studied philosophy at some point in your life, this will probably be far too simplistic for you. I still would recommend this book and here's why. Sophie's World will be an excellent read for anyone with a curiosity about philosophy, but who finds the whole thing a bit intimidating. I think it's a wonderful introduction to philosophy because it is aimed at that 15 year old character. Even if you have studied philosophy, this book will be thought provoking, if only because it makes you think about what you once studied. I think this would be a wonderful book for parents of teenage children to read with their children. It would certainly make for some excellent discussions. The true strength of this book is the material it covers. Philosophy is a fascinating subject and Sophie's World is the perfect choice for anyone who would like to gently ease themselves into that subject.
Product Review
Wanting to understand the most fundamental questions of the universe isn't the province of ivory-tower intellectuals alone, as this book's enormous popularity has demonstrated. A young girl, Sophie, becomes embroiled in a discussion of philosophy with a faceless correspondent. At the same time, she must unravel a mystery involving another young girl, Hilde, by using everything she's learning. The truth is far more complicated than she could ever have imagined.
From Publishers Weekly
This long, dense novel, a bestseller in the author's native Norway, offers a summary history of philosophy embedded in a philosophical mystery disguised as a children's book-but only sophisticated young adults would be remotely interested. Sophie Amundsen is about to turn 15 when she receives a letter from one Alberto Knox, a philosopher who undertakes to educate her in his craft. Sections in which we read the text of Knox's lessons to Sophie about the pre-Socratics, Plato and St. Augustine alternate with those in which we find out about Sophie's life with her well-meaning mother. Soon, though, Sophie begins receiving other, stranger missives addressed to one Hilde Moller Knag from her absent father, Albert. As Alberto Knox's lessons approach this century, he and Sophie come to suspect that they are merely characters in a novel written by Albert for his daughter. Teacher and pupil hatch a plot to understand and possibly escape from their situation; and from there, matters get only weirder. Norwegian philosophy professor Gaarder's notion of making a history of philosophy accessible is a good one. Unfortunately, it's occasionally undermined by the dry language he uses to describe the works of various thinkers and by an idiosyncratic bias that gives one paragraph to Nietzsche but dozens to Sartre, breezing right by Wittgenstein and the most influential philosophy of this century, logical positivism. Many readers, regardless of their age, may be tempted to skip over the lessons, which aren't well integrated with the more interesting and unusual metafictional story line. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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