The Alchemist

I first picked up this book when I was going through a particularly difficult transition in my life. Without giving away spoilers, the story of Santiago is deceptively simple, but it resonated with me in a way few other books have. It helped me find direction when I felt like I had none. It has now become a yearly tradition for me to re-read this. I find that as I change, the parts of the book that stand out to me change as well. It’s a quick read, but one that stays with you long after you put it down. The book arrived in pristine condition. The binding is tight, and the text is crisp and easy on the eyes. It holds up well to being tossed in a bag for reading on the go. If you are feeling stuck or just need a reminder to follow your intuition, buy this book. It is a modern classic for a reason.

The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho is an inspirational story of Santiago, a youthful Spanish shepherd in the rolling hills of Andalusia. The boy has deep attachment with his flock but realizing that they are devoid of aesthetic sense and appreciation for nature which he beholds, loves and admires, the course of his life changes. His parents' life is associated with struggle in a country which people from far away fantasize and romanticize but for them it's not a place of dream and charm. Story starts with a dream followed by a series of adventures ultimately leads to resolution. His time is consumed in herding, reading and dreaming of travelling far-off places. He keeps getting same dream that there is treasure lying underneath the Egyptian pyramids. His encounter with a gypsy woman for consulting his dream gives story a new turn. He gets to know from her to follow omens. As the story moves the events get connected impeccably. Santiago's quest for treasure, soon his lucky encounter with old King who strengthens his beliefs about living his destiny, coming across mishaps and encounter with Fatima, a desert girl; all this leads him to personal legend that converges the idea of 'conspiring universe'. Personal legend is the key to living a successful and satisfying life as it is the destiny which one dreams of. He receives assistance from an alchemist who helps him understand his quest for accomplishing his dream. By time his belief grows and satisfaction nourishes as he is on right path. He comes to know "when you want something all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it". Story deals with an internal conflict between his love and personal dreams but this novel ends up showing love as a supporting tool for achieving his dream. This is a beautiful idea that true love can prove to be a great stimulus when time comes. According to Coelho dreams have a price but not living your dreams has even a bigger price. The idea of seeking dreams is marvelous. Pursuing your dream and commiting to it makes the whole universe conspiring to give you what you want. One of the dangerous hindrance described in the novel is fear. The fear of failure which stops us living our destiny. Overcoming this is a great victory as Coelho quoted "tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity". When Santiago is in desert he comes to know that he can turn base metals into gold. (Although the idea is not true in reality). It is also a bit overrated when alchemist turns lead into gold. It is not necessary that you agree each and every thing which Coelho has put into the novel. Instead your reason and rationale may oppose many things. But one has to have the ability to read between the lines. In spite of being very unreal it is a beautiful fable which has delighted millions around the world because of its thought provoking ideas of spirituality and destiny. Santiago while travelling understands the relation between man and nature. His quest and how he overcomes the obstacles of violence, confusion and despair is an encouraging pleasure for reader. The setting of novel is real but events are magical. Some may find it a good piece to escape reality and some to understand reality. I highly recommend it to young readers as its conclusions directs it solves the purpose to make reader understand having faith in destiny which ultimately leads to achieving it.

During my senior year of high school, a group of students were instructed to read "The Alchemist", by Paul Coelho. As I began reading this book, I realized its main purpose was about following your dreams but never get off track by stopping at a destination that is not your purpose. The story begins with a teenage boy named Santiago whose dream was to travel the world. As Santiago recalls the conversation he had with his father, he explained to his father that he wanted to travel instead of becoming a priest, as his father wanted him to be. Santiago’s father insisted that only shepherds travel so Santiago demands that he will become a shepherd since he wanted to travel and see new things. The next day, Santiago’s father gave him three gold coins to buy a flock of sheep. His father desired for him to travel and wanted him to realize their country side is better than any other land he wants to discover. Later on during Santiago’s traveling, he had to rest. During that time, he had a dream. In his dream, Santiago was in a field with his sheep when suddenly a child walks up and starts to play with the sheep. Eventually, the child walks up to Santiago and grabs his hand to guide him to the pyramids in Egypt. The child speaks about finding a treasure near the pyramids but as soon as the little boy starts to tell the location of this treasure, Santiago wakes up out of his dream confused. Farther along in his journey, he visits a dream interpreter who implies that he should go to the pyramids to find this lost treasure. As for the money to pay for the dream interpretation, she resists the urge for Santiago to pay for his service, but only wants ten percent of whatever treasure he finds. Santiago agrees, thinking that the dream interpreter would never know about the treasure he finds. Moving on to another city, Santiago bought a thicker book as he promised himself before and waited for the sun to come down so he could finish his traveling to find this treasure. While reading this book, Santiago was approached by an elder who immediately began asking Santiago questions about the book he was reading but he initially ignores the old Arabian man and begins to talk to him. The old man introduced himself as Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Santiago guesses in disbelief, that the old man must have been sent by the dream interpreter. In addition, Melchizedek instantly told Santiago that he should give him one tenth of his sheep for a hint of where the treasure was. As Melchizedek writes the names of Santiago’s parents in the sand with a stick, he explains the concept of the Personal Legend. “A personal legend represents what that personal most desires to accomplish in his or her life”, he explains. Pointing to a baker in the city, he explains that the baker wanted to travel but he became a baker because everyone considered that job more important than a shepherd; having said that, Santiago became offended and left the king of Salem immediately as quick as the wind in anger. City he buys bread from the baker Melchizedek spoke about moments ago and stops by another booth to buy a ticket to another country, Africa. Wandering through the city the next day, Santiago finds Melchizedek and gives him six of his sheep, in return, the location of the treasure which was in Egypt by the pyramids. One of my favorite stories in The Alchemist has a message to offer for a lifetime. Melchizedek explains to Santiago the story of a shopkeeper who sends his son to learn the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The boy finds the wise man in his castle in the desert. The wise man tells the boy to spend time looking through the castle with a spoon full of oil. Concentrating on the spoon full of oil, the boy never realized the castles true beauty and was sent away again with a spoon full of oil to explore. When he came back to the wise man, there was no oil in the spoon, having forgotten about the oil but honoring the true beauty of the wise man’s castle. The Alchemist ends with Santiago leaving the alchemist as he is three hours away from the pyramids and must finish the trip alone. As Santiago rides off alone headed for the pyramids, he stopped in the distance due to a scarab in the sand and starts to dig. Ultimately, two refugees hold Santiago hostage and force Santiago to finish digging the hole because the refugees thought he found treasure. As the morning arises, Santiago stops to gasp from the involuntary servitude from the refugees and speaks again of seeing treasure. At that moment, Santiago realized that his dream of treasure was the same as what the refugees spoke of. And he knew that his treasure was not by the pyramids. Eventually reaching back to the church he began his journey was the place his treasure was. A few great things I loved about the Alchemist were how Coelho maintained suspense from the beginning to the end. I was so eager to find out what Santiago, the main character in the Alchemist, would eventually do next after being stuck in so many situations and having to use omens to see if the right place he should be was the right place he was in at that moment. One thing I did not like about the Alchemist was how Santiago just stopped perusing his dreams of visiting other countries because of love at first sight. Santiago met a beautiful girl and just spent half of his life in this certain country without hesitating to remain true to his main goal. I wondered what would have been different if Santiago did not stop in this certain city but kept trying to reach for his dreams. Although the Alchemist had a weak point, you have to realize the overall purpose of this book. And that purpose includes finding your true destiny or Personal Legend while searching for God to help you find the true meaning of life.

When I heard Will Smith praising this book, I filed that info in the back of my mind somewhere and knew that because he had endorsed it, I wanted to read it. WIll Smith is not only a phenomenal actor, but he is also a great inspirational and motivational speaker as well. I am happy to announce that I was not disappointed. By the time I was seven, I knew that one day I wanted to be a writer. When I was seventeen and my father asked, "So Lisa what do you want to do with your life?" and I said, "I want to be a writer", it took great courage to admit to a secret truth I feared my family would not appreciate. Again, I was right. My father's response went something like, "A writer? You don't want to be a writer. You'll never make any money as a writer. Become a nurse. People always die." In one swift instant I, like many of the characters spoken about in this book gave up on my dream and tried hard to forget my Personal Legend. In fear of disappointing my father, I entered nursing school only to be told by my English professor that my talents would be waisted as a nurse and that I was born to be a writer. I did not realize it then, but my English professor was put in my path to help me remember my Personal Legend. Because of my families issues with codependency--it was all too easy for me to not see what was before my very eyes. Three years later, I quit nursing school in my last semester...and never went back. Fast forward about twenty five years later--and I am now a bestselling author. This book represents much of my own personal trials and tribulations as I set out to fulfill the truest desires of my heart. The author does an eloquent job at weaving many spiritual, as well as scientific reasonings behind creation and successfully delivers a story worth reading. This story will inspire the desires of anyone's heart to remember that in us all is the coding for our own Personal Legend. I loved this story--and I know you will too... Yes--buy this book...I read it in one afternoon curled up on my couch with a cup of tea... Namaste...

Read original review @ The Indigo Quill: [...] In honor of Paulo Coelho's latest edition of his book Manuscript Found in Accra, I decided to do a review on an oldie but a goodie. His work that started it all: The Alchemist. I finally read this book last year when it was a pick for a book club I was in at my church. I had heard about it and knew of a lot of people who just thought it was the best book ever. Did I find it to be the absolute best book I've ever read? No, not really. But I did find it very unique and inspiring. In The Alchemist, we travel on a journey with a boy named Santiago who leaves his home and so-called "destiny" of being a shepherd boy to search for an unknown treasure, his "Personal Legend." Along the way, he comes into contact with people and situations that help or hinder them, but he perseveres nonetheless. There are a few things I would recommend a reader to be aware of before diving into this book: 1) This isn't necessarily a novel as it is an extended parable. Coelho writes in a way that is simple and to-the-point so don't expect a lot of "fluff." 2) This book was originally written in Portuguese, not English. ....That's all I have to say about that. 3) Even though this book is written in simple-terms, there is an endless number of symbolism to keep an eye out for. That being said, the general intent of The Alchemist is to paint a picture of man's journey out of the mundane life to pursue his calling. There are many obstacles in the way, doubts that creep in, and even people who may be against you, but that doesn't make the things that you have set out to accomplish any less real or out of reach. It's a beautiful thing and that's what The Alchemist portrays. It leaves the reader thoughtful and hopefully even a little inspired.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't something I would have chosen but my friend recommended it to me. A pleasant change from my usual box

The Alchemist is a rare book, it is a book like no other, one that will stay with you for years after reading it, and will bring you joy every time you think about it. All I can say about this book is that I am very glad that I read it. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is like an oasis full of hope and life energy situated at the very center of a burning desert. The novella is short and written like an old fairy tale or mythic story, it details the spiritual transformation of a young shepard named Santiago that occurs after he meets an old mystic sage in the streets. In order to undergo the inner alchemy Santiago has to give up everything, just as the Buddha did, as the novel teaches the very simple truth that it is only when you give up everything can you have it all. I will write the prologue to the book here, it is short and sweet and always reminds me of the essence of the novel: `The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus. The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus. But this was not how the author of the book ended the story. He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears. "Why do you weep?" the goddesses asked. "I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied. "Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus" they said, "for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate the beauty close at hand." "But... was Narcissus beautiful?" the lake asked. "Who better than you to know that?" the goddesses said in wonder. "After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!". The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said: "I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected." "What a lovely story", the alchemist thought.

Okay, I've heard of this book and always wondered what lay behind the cover. I was watching Tavis Smiley interview Will Smith about what drives him and he said he hustles and a hustler is what will separate a person from the rest. He also said a driving force is to know your purpose and to live it out and the universe will conspire to help you achieve that. I was like, "Sure it will". Fast forward to this year 2014. Oprah was interviewing Pharrell Williams on his success with Daft Punk and his new album GIRL and the hit song Happy that is sweeping the globe now in popularity. He told Oprah that he was trying to figure out his purpose while making hits for different artist and someone close to him said you should read the The Alchemist. He said for him it was a game changer because it clarified that he was going in the right direction and that he should not quit and give up. After that I felt like I should give this book a try. Yesterday around 6:30, The Alchemist I had ordered from Amazon was sitting by my bed for a couple of weeks and I had not picked it up. I was reading another book when I decided to take a break and pick up The Alchemist and read it. 6 hours later I was reading the Epilogue of the book starting on page 163. I had read the whole book and I've never finished a book in one sitting. I love reading and that has never happened to me before. I can be a little skeptical at times of certain things and this book was one of them. For me the book clarified some things in my life that I was about to give up on and things that I had temporarily put on pause to pursue other ventures. After the read though my heart was telling me that I still needed to pursue my dreams and not give up on them. The urge and desire was always strong for me to see my dreams come true but after I finished the book I was even more exhilarated and determined to see them come to fruition. I'm young guy and in the book it talked about the Wise King that met the Andulusian boy that if we don't pursue our dreams that one day they will be buried and that it will always haunt us as what could have been if we pursued what our hearts love. I'm paraphrasing what the King said to the boy but he pointed out how the baker wanted to travel but ended up not doing it and that it haunts him still that he didn't travel and see the world. I'm here to tell you not to scoff at this piece of valuable literature and to give it a try. Everyone dreams but not everyone means to see dreams come to a reality. If you don't believe me I am a real person who buys various products off of amazon and reviews almost everything that I buy. But this is the longest interview I have written. So I am NOT someone that was paid to write a review. Lastly I came across a Facebook post of Jim Carey. I don't know if he read the book or not but he was giving a commencement speech at a University and said that his dad didn't follow his dream and ended up brokenhearted when his secondary plan failed. Jim Carey said, "You can fail at the things you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing the thing you love". Give yourself a chance and bet on you for a change, because I'm betting on me.