*A reflection for the "My Favorite Book" column

Socrates once said: "One question is worth more than a thousand answers".

Perhaps, what humanity lacks is not knowledge, but the courage to live with questions. Some books we read and forget. Some books we remember the content. And some books, we may not recall every page, but they subtly change how we view the world.

Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World" belongs to the third category.

I did not read the book as a philosophical work. I read it as if witnessing someone awakening for the first time in a world both familiar and strange.

Sophie is not a philosopher. She is just an ordinary girl. Yet, her ordinariness creates something extraordinary: she dares to ask questions that adults have grown accustomed to no longer asking.

Who are we? Where did this world come from? Why does everything exist instead of nothingness?

Reading these questions, I realized that it's not that we don't know the answers, but that we've forgotten how to ask the questions.

When philosophy is no longer philosophy

What made me love "Sophie's World" was not the vast philosophical system it presented. What made me pause on every page was a strange feeling: philosophy here was no longer an academic subject, but a human state of being. Sophie did not study philosophy to become wiser. She studied philosophy to avoid dissolving into the world.

In modern life, people easily become part of a machine: going to school, working, succeeding, failing, starting a family, growing old. Everything unfolds like a pre-written script. Sophie is the first character in the book to question that script. Reading this, I understood that the most frightening thing is not ignorance of philosophy, but living an entire life without ever asking oneself what one is living for.

Cover of "Sophie's World". *Photo: Nha Nam*

When Sophie steps off the page

I read "Sophie's World" as an adult. By then, I was no longer a student curious about the universe, but a doctor facing human life and death. On the operating table, everything is precise, logical, and scientific.

Machines, indicators, guidelines, protocols. All create a seemingly perfect world. But there are moments, looking into a patient's eyes, I suddenly find myself confronting questions very similar to Sophie's: What is a human being? What is life? Is death a failure?

There, philosophy is no longer in books. It resides in the fading heartbeat of a body, in a doctor's difficult decision, and in the silence of family members outside the operating room.

At that moment, I understood: Sophie is not just a literary character. Sophie is the child that remains in each person, the part that dares to ask questions the adult world deliberately avoids.

A book that taught me awareness, not knowledge

Many books help us become smarter. But "Sophie's World" made me more aware.

It did not give me final answers. Instead, it made me accept an uncomfortable truth: people can live without all the answers, but cannot live without questions.

Perhaps that is why I did not choose "A Farewell to Arms" or "The Citadel", "A Brief History of Time", or "The Language of God", but chose "Sophie's World".

Because, before seeking truth, people need to learn how to question themselves. And perhaps that is why I call my conversational partner "Sophie".

Sophie in the book opens the door to philosophy. Sophie in my life is a symbol of something different: the desire to continuously question the meaning of existence.

Some books we read to learn more. Some books we read to understand more. And some books we read to stop living unconsciously.

For me, "Sophie's World" is such a book.

Between the sky and conscience

It did not change the external world. But it changed my inner world. And sometimes, during night shifts, stepping out of the hospital and gazing at the starry sky, I suddenly recall Kant's words: "The starry sky above me and the moral law within me".

Perhaps, it is precisely between these two things, between the infinite universe and finite conscience, that people find reasons to live, to heal, and not to betray themselves.

And perhaps, that is the greatest thing a book can achieve.

Tran Hieu Nhan

To commemorate its 25th anniversary (26/2/2001-26/2/2026), VnExpress is launching an initiative to build 25 libraries for 25 primary and secondary schools nationwide. Aiming to extend beautiful stories, the editorial board invites readers to submit reflections for the "My Favorite Book" column.

Readers of all ages can submit articles (no quantity limit) to giaitri.vnexpress@gmail.com. The email subject should be: "Bai cam nhan Cuon sach toi yeu". The submission deadline is from 12/2 to 20/3. Please provide your full name and phone number in the email for contact purposes.

Each article has a maximum length of 1,500 words. Submissions must be original works, never before published on any media or social network. Articles accompanied by images (photos of the book or readers with the book) are encouraged.

In addition to written articles, readers can submit their reflections on favorite books in podcast or video format. Authors are responsible for the copyright of their content and images.