This week in class, we began reading Sophie's World. At first, I wasn't sure how this book would be, because I hadn't heard many great things about it. I asked my mom how she liked the book, because she had read it before, and she didn't think I would particularly enjoy the subject matter that the book describes.
We could just say that she was wrong. Dead wrong.
I don't think a book has ever made me think so hard about life before in my life. It brings up questions like "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?". Sophie ponders these questions while she reads the letters her philosopher is sending to her. I find it difficult to not become distracted by these questions. I find myself thinking about these questions for myself rather than reading the book. I love pondering these things, but I need to read!
I had also recently been pondering questions like this, and I was very happy to see other perspectives through this novel. When Sophie first got the "Who are you?" letter, the author described Sophie looking into the mirror, and questioning who was actually asking the question. I think it is amazing to think about.
It connects to my beliefs in how I really love thinking of things in abstract ways. Like in the chapter, "The Myths", it describes how people made up stories so that they could have a sort of knowledge as to how things work. To me, science is so boring. Facts are facts that cannot be altered. They are set, and that is the way they will be. I think that is why I have loved reading this book. I can use my imagination to create. I can create reasons to why the earth spins, or where we come from.
I see myself using these questions throughout my entire lifetime. I believe that if I can ask these questions to myself throughout my lifetime, I will never be bored. These are things that I could think about for hours on end without stopping. It is one of the only things that isn't a physical activity that really can get my blood flowing.
I think that it is pretty important to think about these things, because without them, life just seems irrelevant.
Danny I completely agree. This book really makes you wonder about the compelling questions of, who we are? It does a perfect job of informing us of the progression of philosophy while gripping us in an enticing narrative. This book really made realize that humans are obsessed with "knowing". As an example, take the myth chapter that Danny pointed out. We now know that these myths were completely wrong, but to the people of the day, they offered a quenching feeling of "knowing". I think the same goes for us today, and it will keep evolving till the truth gets harder and harder to see.
ReplyDeleteThis post really made me look outside just the book, and take the questions that the author brings up as something to definetly look into. Up until basically now I was just reading the book and gaining knowledge on the material inside of it, but was not properly understanding it.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the main purposes of us reading this book was to put our own lives in perspective and genuinley think about the questions that are asked, and not just read over them.
I completely agree with you in that things are irrelevant without thinking about these things because not only do they help us question things about our lives but also it really makes you think about the rest of the world.