{"id":160034,"date":"2023-10-19T12:16:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T10:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=160034"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:01","slug":"laurens-read-sophies-world-as-a-teenager-ive-moved-house-ten-times-and-have-always-dragged-this-book-along-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/10\/19\/laurens-read-sophies-world-as-a-teenager-ive-moved-house-ten-times-and-have-always-dragged-this-book-along-with-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Laurens read Sophie’s World as a teenager. \u2018I\u2019ve moved house ten times and have always dragged this book along with me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Laurens Wielaard read the philosophical novel Sophie\u2019s World as a insecure teenager, the scales fell from his eyes. He realised that Greek and Latin culture formed a common theme permeating his life and grew in confidence. Nowadays, he is less interested in philosophy, but the book still has a special place in his bookcase.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLeroy Verbeet<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Over 25 years ago, when Laurens Wielaard (42) was just 15 years old, he was given a copy of Jostein Gaarder\u2019s Sophie\u2019s World<\/em><\/a> as a present. The book was a huge hit at the time. \u201cFar too thick\u201d, was Laurens\u2019 first impression when the book was thrust into his hands. \u201cWhat am I supposed to do with this?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was not much of a reader and had no interest whatsoever in weighty tomes with nearly six hundred pages. Nevertheless, he gave the book a go whilst on holiday in Spain, reasoning that it couldn\u2019t hurt to give it a try. The novel has been a hit with Laurens ever since. He even read it twice so as to maximise his understanding of the content.<\/p>\n\t

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Favourite genre: history and biography.<\/p>\n

Motivation: prompted by topic or personality. \u201cMy mother, brother and girlfriend are avid readers. If they recommend a book, I\u2019ll read it. I\u2019m not really one to go looking for books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Number of books per year: six.<\/p>\n

Last book read: De man die werk vond<\/em><\/a> \u2013 Herman Brusselmans.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Greek philosophy<\/h2>

The story explains the history of Western philosophy in an accessible way and is based around the life of a 14-year-old girl, Sofie Amundsen. One day, she finds herself receiving some letters containing philosophical questions, such as \u2018who are you?\u2019 and \u2018where are you from?\u2019 The sender, mysterious philosopher Alberto Knox, becomes her teacher and teaches her all about the history of philosophy: from the first Greek philosophers to the present day.<\/p>\n

It was Greek philosophy in particular that got the young Laurens thinking. As a teenager, he attended the Erasmiaans Gymnasium in Rotterdam, where he was taught Greek and Latin language and culture. At first, he did not see the point in learning about civilisations of the dim and distant past. \u201cBut reading the book, I realised that Greek and Latin culture formed a common theme permeating my life.\u201d He spotted it in films, in the Dutch language and in his favourite football club, Sparta Rotterdam. His teachers must have been pleased with him: he suddenly wanted to know everything there was to know about Greek heroes and he became better and better at reading ancient texts.<\/p>\n

One sentence by the Greek philosopher Plato has always stayed with him: \u2018You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a lifetime of working with him\u2019. He started doing lots of sport during the period when he read the novel. He got heavily involved in a wide array of sports \u2013 from ballroom dancing to kickboxing \u2013 and has now been an event manager at Erasmus Sport at the university for a decade. \u201cI love bringing people closer together through sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing self-confidence<\/h2>

Sport helped the young Laurens to grow in confidence, but the book contributed to that process too. \u201cI was a little nerd with blue glasses and had no idea who I was and what I\u2019d be doing in the future\u201d, he explains. \u201cThe book taught me to reflect on these questions better, which boosted my self-confidence.\u201d In the story, Sophie gets all sorts of questions about existence, which she has to reflect on philosophically. \u201cTo some extent, I trod the same path as Sophie along with her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018It\u2019d drive me crazy to get bogged down in wondering why we\u2019re here. I need to be doing things, in motion, active\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

But only to some extent, as Laurens\u2019 mindset is not quite so philosophical. And so the ideas in the book didn\u2019t stick. \u201cPuberty is all about self-discovery, but I actually went in the other direction after that\u201d, he admits. \u201cI\u2019m much more of a doer than a thinker.\u201d He is happy that way, as last summer, when he first experienced depressive feelings due to a physical issue, he noticed that ruminating on existential questions didn\u2019t make him any happier. \u201cIt\u2019d drive me crazy to get bogged down in wondering why we\u2019re here. I need to be doing things, in motion, active.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, then, the kind of books Laurens reads now are completely different. Tommy Wieringa\u2019s Joe Speedboot<\/em>, Hein Meijers\u2019 Encyclopedie van de leuke feitjes<\/em>, biographies of athletes. \u201cI mostly read when I\u2019m on holiday, when I don\u2019t want heavy reading material\u201d, he says. \u201cI\u2019ve also started reading less because I\u2019ve got two young children, but I\u2019m still not really much of a reader anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the bookcase<\/h2>

Nevertheless, the blue-purple philosophy book still occupies a place in his bookcase at home. \u201cWhich is telling, because I\u2019ve thrown away many books\u201d, he says. \u201cI\u2019ve moved house ten times and have always dragged this book along with me.\u201d This is evident from the fact that the white letters on the book\u2019s spine have faded. Now, having held onto the book for 25 years, he is considering reading it again. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the few books that made an impression on me back then.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Laurens Wielaard studied Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam, but he didn\u2019t enjoy it. He left the programme and set out on a career in what he enjoys most: sport. He has now been an event manager at Erasmus Sport at the university for a decade. This year, he is helping out with organising the university\u2019s anniversary celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t