Sophie's World

Sophie’s World

A Novel About the History of Philosophy

JOSTEIN GAARDER

Translated by Paulette Miller

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

SOPHIE’S WORLD

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

Inc.

PRINTING HISTORY

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., edition published 1994 Berkley edition / March

1996 All rights reserved.

Originally published in Norwegian under the title Sofies verden, copyright ©

1991 by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), Oslo.

Translation copyright © 1994 by Paulette Moller.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: Farrar, Straus, and

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of Siri Dan-nevig. Thanks are also due to Maiken Ims for reading the manuscript and making useful comments, and to Trond Berg Eriksen for his trenchant observations and knowledgeable support through the years.

J.G.

He who cannot draw on three thousand years

Is living from hand to mouth

GOETHE

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

… at some point something must have come from nothing …

Sophie Amundsen was on her way home from school. She had walked the first part of the way with Joanna. They had been discussing robots. Joanna thought the human brain was like an advanced computer. Sophie was not certain she agreed. Surely a person was more than a piece of hardware?

When they got to the supermarket they went their separate ways. Sophie lived on the outskirts of a sprawling suburb and had almost twice as far to school as Joanna.

There were no other houses beyond her garden, which made it seem as if her house lay at the end of the world. This was where the woods began.