There is nothing more exciting than having an ex-student writing to you expressing the wish to discuss what you have written ( http://ed-is-a-stranger-on-earth.blogspot.com/2011/01/now-learning-how-to-live-through.html ). Below is my rambling response to his rather lengthy mail. If there are any untruths or falsities, I am the one to blame... Have fun reading it! ;-) Now we are talking! Since you have taken the time to compose such a long response, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, I will do it justice by giving you a detailed response. First off, Gaarder's Sophie's World . This is the Bible of us amateur philosophers. I read it more than ten years ago, and it still remains one of my all-time favoruites. If you feel like reading something equally thought-provoking but a lot less transparent, try Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being . The Empedocles argument (earth, fire, water and air being the basic elements of the world) is interesting ...