Sophie's World
A Novel About the History of Philosophy
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Jostein Gaarder
About this listen
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.
Originally published in Norwegian under the title Sofies verden, ©1991 H. Aschelhoug and Co. (W. Nygaard), Oslo. Translation ©1994 Paulette Moller; (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLCCritic 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)
excellent to listen to
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With this reading, it’s a shame about the voice of Sophie. It’s a bit mocking and often makes her seem just a bit stupid.
Otherwise, well read.
Brilliant introduction to Philosophy
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I found the chapters on science at times boring, inaccurate and infuriating. Scientific accuracy is of course not the main point of the book but the errors annoyed me and brought me out of the story. The chapters on Darwin and Freud dragged, and Alberto's framing of evolution as having direction was particularly infuriating. It picked up again after that though, and was a very clever and altogether delightful listen.
The narrator's voice for Sophie grated on me but I got used to it.
A great book with some niggling scientific errors
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makes you think
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However, I didn’t much enjoy the story element - I felt it was much weaker, and grew unexpectedly tedious about half way through.
But that was only part of it, and the writing is very good, and the narration by Simon Vance is so well-modulated, filled with understanding and nuance, and altogether superlative, that he carries it through the parts I found less interesting.
Great philosophy overview; weak fiction
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