"Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder, is subtitled 'A Novel About the History of Philosophy', which may or may not grab the reader's attention. Through a series of letters to a fourteen-year-old girl, a mysterious man named Alberto Knox offers her a free course in philosophy. He starts the course by delivering questions to Sophie that make her think of who she is and how the world was made. Alberto then takes her through a brief course on the history of philosophy, from Greek to modern times. He manages to shake Sophie out of her mundane existence: he compares humans to living on a rabbit's back, content to remain buried way down in the fur, and never questioning or climbing up to the top to examine the world around us, the way philosophers do.

One does not have to agree with every philosophy presented in the book in order to enjoy it: in fact, one would be very confused indeed if they agreed with every notion every philosopher ever set forth. Gaarder makes the novel an interactive experience, since many of Sophie's questions would be asked by the reader, and the examples put things into perspective. Gaarder has a fascinating imagination that sweeps the novel along at a brisk pace, especially when he causes the reader to question the very plausibility of the where he is taking the characters he has created. Learning about philosophy has never been so exhilarating; here's to never sinking down into the rabbit's fur again.

---

　　暑假在家闲来无事，就把以前在上学买的书整理一下，发现有好多书自己竟然没有好好的读完，都是听老师说要看什么书自己去买来了，结果随便翻几页就扔在那里。心里实在有点过意不去，就决定在这个假期里好好弥补一下。

《苏菲的世界》是一本哲学启蒙书，她用深入浅出的文字想我们每个读者展示了哲学从古到今的发展历程。从苏菲在信箱中取出的一封写着：“你是谁？”的信开始，在艾伯特的指点下，苏菲从哲学的摇篮雅典出发，对苏格拉底和柏拉图的哲学有了初步了解。她对文艺复兴时期的认识包括达芬奇的绘画、莎士比亚的戏剧、古登堡的印刷机……涉及艺术、科学、建筑、数学等许多方面。至于近现代，艾伯特的“哲学函授课”包含了康德、黑格尔、弗洛伊德乃至于马克思的哲学思想。看这样一部作品，让我看到了全人类的文明。在苏菲的所到之处，到处都凝结着文明的精华。看过之后，我已经不仅仅是学到了一些东西，更重要的是心灵的震撼。

“我思故我在” 可读完全书的我却很茫然，我存在吗？不过是在这个时段、在这个特定的空间的相对存在罢了。试问，多年以后，一切都归于湮灭之中，我会存在？渺小的我会存在过，或曾经存在过？真不敢相信“恐惧”竟是我读完书后的第一感觉。我不知道他人读此书的过程中是否会有这荒谬的感觉。这是我真实而自觉荒谬的心灵体验。讫今为止，《苏菲的世界》是让我感觉最奇特的书，真的，在以往没有任何一本书会这样让我沉迷其间而深感“恐惧”，读后对这“恐惧”深感荒谬。要解决这种恐惧这中荒谬就只有通过自己的思考，通过思考来更加清楚的认识这个世界，这大概也是作者的最终目的吧

我原本以为哲学是一门不切实际的学问，但当我读完全书后才发现哲学其实是最贴近现实生活的，哲学是“关于天底下每个人都关心的一些问题的学科”。哲学所要解决的都是还没有科学方法可以证明的问题——诸如善与恶、美与丑、生与死、秩序与自由等。我认为哲学不是科学，因为它没有什么精确的公式来计算、来衡量。哲学是对未知事物或不确切认识的事物的假设性解释，是追求真理的开路先锋。在我们的这个世界，仅有科学而无哲学，仅有事实而无洞察力和价值观，是不能使我们免于浩劫和绝望的。科学给予我们知识，然而只有哲学才给予我们智慧。

心里面想的还有很多，但不知道怎么来更加明白的表达，也许只有我们自己亲身读了此书后才能和我一样感受到《苏菲的世界》带给我们的震撼