Author: Jostein Gaarder Publisher: Dar Al-Muna Publication Date: 2015 Number of Pages: 550 Arabic text by: Hayat Al-Hawaik Attia Within a literary framework, Jostein Gaarder raises philosophical questions about life and existence, presented through two letters sent to Sophie, the central figure of this book. The essence and content of the book is a limitless summary at once: "Who are you?" asks the first letter, and "Where did the world come from?" asks the second... Gaarder embarks on a journey from these two questions to deeply explore the history of philosophy, which encompasses various philosophies that originated from a fundamental point of this existence. Through Sophie and the philosophers, he dives into their thoughts in an attempt to answer these two questions... all within a narrative that is unlike any other novel. What captivated me was not the intricate dramatic plot of Sophie’s World, but rather the way philosophy is presented, from the inception of this science around seven hundred BC up until Jean-Paul Sartre, the leader of existentialism who passed away in the 1980s, in a simple manner that gives any reader an idea about philosophy and its most important sages and pioneers. The novel attempts to answer the great existential questions of life and death, good and evil, the universe, the afterlife, and fate, through the philosophers, with the answers being messages that reach young Sophie’s mailbox as she is about to celebrate her fifteenth birthday in a few days. Since philosophy is the love of wisdom and is intertwined with many sciences, the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder also touches upon some history of many nations. Philosophers began from the 7th century BC, and through the natural philosophers who sought in ancient Greece to explore nature in order to reach the truth about humanity, they stated that existence...