ExploreTruth

“He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.”

-Goethe

Sophie’s World: A Novel about The History of Philosophy, was written by Jostein Gaarder.  It’s a beginners journey into the land of philosphy…inquiry…thinking…mystery….and asking the questions that matter.

It’s the 3rd book we’ll be reading during the month of April, and you are welcome to join us.

Now just so you know…we were leaning towards reading Sartre Explained: From Bad Faith to Authenticity by David Detmer. There were also some other great suggestions. BUT I couldn’t help but see the value in a better starting place for those who may not feel like jumping into the specific philosophical ideas of one of the most prolific thinkers, and writers of the 20th century – Jean Paul Sartre.

And for those who are a bit squimish about jumping into any aspect of western philosophy…far less for a comprehensive history of it, this is an INTRODUCTION…as recounted to a 14-year-old schoolgirl…so relax ;-)

So I excersiced executive privaledges, and decided we begin our quest into become better thinkers, with Sophie’s World, and see which of the philosophers/philosophies, spark our curiosity….and in May…follow the crumbs where they lead.

I just picked up Sophie’s World, and started reading it.  So far I’m impressed.  I can’t put it down.  I’m not sure how well they will accomplish the task of packing an entire history of philosophy into a page turning novel about a 14 year old girl, but the first two chapters really got my attention.

Here’s a bit from the blurb on the back of the book:

“One day 14 yr old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, each with a question: “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?”…Sophie becomes obessed with questions that take her far beyound what she knows of her Norwegian village.  Through successive letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while also recieving 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.”

The Washington Post Book World called it…

” A whimsical and ingenious mystery novel that also happens to be a history of philosophy.”

I really think this will have us thinking, and talking for some time.

All I will add is that by chapter two…those two questions sufficiently set this girl off…

“For the first time she began to feel that at school as well as everywhere else people were only concerned with trivialities.  There were major problems that needed to be solved.

Did anybody have answers to these questions?  Sophie felt that thinking about them was more important than memorizing irregular verbs.”

These questions, and the many more that are tackled throughout this book( I scanned some of the other chapters) are the sort of questions that interest everyone. OR should.  No matter who they are or where they live in the world.  Also glancing at the table of contents, I got a good impression, that one will leave this book with a pretty entertaining and comprehensive look at the history of folks(mostly white men…but we’ll expand on that another time) who have taken up the pursuit of truth.

That’s what this novel is about.  And 30 million copies in print seem to have fired the imaginations of readers all over the world.

I don’t see it on kindle/nook, but I see that it’s very cheap if purchased used.  I just paid $12 for it at B & N. I couldn’t wait…what can I say.

If you haven’t been reading with us, and would like to join along, feel free to join us on our facebook group to stay in touch.