Sophie's World

Description

When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined. A phenomenal worldwide bestseller, SOPHIE'S WORLD sets out to draw teenagers into the world of Socrates, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel and all the great philosophers. A brilliantly original and fascinating story with many twists and turns, it raises profound questions about the meaning of life and the origin of the universe.

Jostein Gaarder shot to fame with the publication of Sophie's World. Originally a high school philosophy teacher, he has written a number of novels for adults and children. He is Norwegian and lives in Oslo with his wife Siri. They have two grown-up sons.

A simply wonderful, irresistible book * DAILY TELEGRAPH * A unique popular classic * THE TIMES * A marvellously rich book. Its success boils down to something quite simple - Gaarder's gift for communicating ideas * GUARDIAN * Remarkable ... What Jostein Gaarder has managed to do is condense 3,000 years of thought into 400 pages; to simplify some extremely complicated arguments without trivialising them ... SOPHIE'S WORLD is an extraordinary achievement * SUNDAY TIMES * Challenging, informative and packed with easily grasped, and imitable, ways of thinking about difficult ideas * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY * A whimsical and ingenious mystery novel that also happens to be a history of philosophy ... What is admirable in the novel is the utter unpretentiousness of the philosophical lessons ... which manages to deliver Western philosophy in accounts that are crystal clear * WASHINGTON POST * A terrifically entertaining and imaginative story wrapped round its tough, thought-provoking philosophical heart * DAILY MAIL *