A teenage girl receives mysterious letters that lead her through a course on the history of philosophy
A novel about the history of philosophy
Sophie Amundsen is fourteen and lives in Norway. One day she finds two short notes in her mailbox asking: Who are you? Where does the world come from? Soon she is receiving packets of lessons from a mysterious teacher, Alberto Knox, who guides her through the history of philosophy. At the same time, strange postcards arrive addressed to a girl called Hilde, whom Sophie has never met.
Who will enjoy it
Curious teens and adults who want an accessible introduction to philosophy wrapped in a mysterious story.
What you will get
A clever, accessible introduction to the great ideas of philosophy, wrapped in an intriguing mystery that makes you question what is real and who you are.
Sophie's World Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · Philosophy · Mystery · Coming of age
Length
544 pages · ≈ 16 h
More about this book
The lessons begin with the earliest Greek thinkers who tried to explain the world without myths, then move to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Sophie's teacher continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, then on to Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, Darwin, Freud and Sartre. Each chapter explains the ideas clearly, with simple examples and questions that invite readers to think for themselves.
Alongside the lessons, the mystery grows. Postcards for Hilde Møller Knag, from her father, a United Nations officer in Lebanon, appear in impossible places, and strange events start to happen around Sophie. She and Alberto begin to suspect that their own world is not what it seems, and the story takes a surprising turn halfway through that changes how everything before it should be read. Gaarder, a former philosophy teacher, mixes playful invention with genuine explanation. The book is long and some chapters are dense, but it is ideal for anyone curious about big questions.
Thought-provoking and unique, translated into dozens of languages. About 544 pages in the Farrar, Straus and Giroux paperback.
The Little Prince
Meditations
The Consolations of Philosophy
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Arrowsmith
Go Set a Watchman
Independence Day
The Stone Diaries
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Atlas Shrugged
Franny and Zooey