By: Jostein Gaardner
Genre: Philosophy/Fantastical Fiction
Page count: 427
What a journey! Gaardner’s single, magnificent, book takes you on the tour of almost the whole of philosophy’s history. From the pre-Socratic philosophers, the natural philosopher as they were called, to the Greek philosophers, and from there to the philosophers of Renaissance, and finally to the more recent philosophers of modern-age, this book is your one-stop read for the introduction of philosophy.
I wish I had read ‘Sophie’s World’ before I had read Durant’s heavy book, ‘The Story of Philosophy’ which also tells us about the history of philosophy. I found Gaardner’s book, which is a fantastical fiction by genre, a much friendlier, easier, and more entertaining introductory book to the world of philosophy than Durant’s non-fiction book.
However, as Kierkegaard famously said, ‘Life could only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards’, so too I come to know about things in retrospection than in prediction. But you, the readers of this review, should learn from what I learned. Life is too short to repeat all the mistakes of those who committed them before us.
Just like the story of Sophie and Hilde in this book, the story of how I came to know about this book also has an irony about it. I got recommended this book from my friend who, ironically, studies Urdu literature and had himself read this book in Urdu translation. But I mistook his pronunciation of the book’s title for ‘Sufi’s World’, and found no trace of such a book on the internet. Yet his explanation of the book had really intrigued me (the book begins when the protagonist receives a letter saying ‘who are you?’ I remember my friend saying) so I didn’t stop looking for it. A year later, I met him again. This time I made sure I got the right spelling.
Then, the excitement continued from its purchase to me finally reading this book a year later. And, it was worth the excitement (again, more so than Durant’s book).
Gaardner not only introduces philosophy and her great thinkers, but does so within a fantastical, fictional world of Hilde and Sophie. I better not spoil it, since I loved this book precisely because I didn’t know much about it. But yes, it starts when a soon-to-be-15-years-old girl, Sophie, receives an unnamed mail, containing only three words, ‘who are you?’. Later on, she receives a couple of new questions, which are then followed by a chunkier mail where these questions are answered through philosophy.
Gaardner was genius to pick this plot for his book, for it works flawlessly!
We later come to know that these unnamed mails come from a ‘real philosopher’ called Alberto Knox – who then becomes Sophie’s philosophy teacher. However, it takes some more reading before we come across one of the first ironies of this book that ‘we as readers are Sophie the student, and Gaardner is Alberto Knox the teacher.’ From then on, it is a fantastical mystery in the present that gets only weirder, and a philosophical journey in the background.
Gaardner is very aware of what he’s building with this book and how the readers will to read it; therefore, he’s very keen to remind the readers, indirectly through Sophie, to understand and carry with themselves what they’ve read. I should add here that since it’s almost the whole journey of philosophy as we have it, it is better to take ‘classroom type’ notes in order to keep track of what has been said. Trust me, it’ll help a lot (I regret not doing it myself!).
But it’s not just philosophy that we read in this book, it’s also world history, religions, epochs, movements, trends, revolutions, mystery, and so much more – or perhaps, all of these do actually spring from philosophy. Gaardner’s compelling and intriguing book has a childlike simplicity to it, a fantastically curious plot, and a coherent and well-narrated story of the whole of philosophy.
Easy and entertaining to read, lots of learn, and much to ponder upon – this is one irresistible and a most important book for all.
Ratings: 5/5 ***** 11.10.20