Sophie's World
First edition (Norwegian) | |
| Author | Jostein Gaarder |
|---|---|
| Original title | Sofies verden |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Genre | Philosophical novel |
| Publisher | Aschehoug |
Publication date | 5 December 1991 |
| Publication place | Norway |
Published in English | 1994 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) and audiobook (English, unabridged CD & download) |
| Pages | 518 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-85799-291-5
|
| OCLC | 246845141 |
| LC Class | PT8951.17.A17 |
Sophie's World (Norwegian: Sofies verden) is a 1991 novel by Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder. It follows Sophie Amundsen, a Norwegian teenager, who is introduced to the history of philosophy as she is asked "Who are you?" "Where does this world come from?" in a letter from an unknown philosopher. The nonfictional content of the book roughly aligns with Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy.
Sophie's World became a best-seller in Norway and won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1994. The English translation was published in 1995, and the book was reported to be the best-selling book in the world that year. By 2011, the novel had been translated into fifty-nine languages, with over forty million print copies sold. It is one of the most commercially successful Norwegian novels outside Norway, and has been adapted into a film and a PC game.