By: Paulo Coelho Publisher: HarperCollins Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: HarperCollins Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 208 Publication Date: May 01, 2006 Release Date: April 25, 2006
Product Description: My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky."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 its dreams."
Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.
The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.
Amazon.com Review: Like the one-time bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. And though we may sniff a bestselling formula, it is certainly not a new one: even the ancient tribal storytellers knew that this is the most successful method of entertaining an audience while slipping in a lesson or two. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.
Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity." --Gail Hudson
The Alchemist This book was recommended to me by a good friend of mine and it didn't disappoint me. I enjoyed reading this short, yet epic book. Two thumbs up.
Life This is a wonderful story especially for people that are caught in the rut of everyday life. The Alchemist talks of God's love that is present in everyone and everything. This love must be cared for, worked on and remembered. Moreover humans are part of the universe. We must learn to understand and blend with all the elements not only through books but also through our obervations of our beautiful animals,planet and universe.
The journey is always the best part Yes, yes, yes, we all know that what we're looking for is looking for us and it's always where we are so when the book ended exactly that way I felt a little let down. It had been such a lovely dreamy fanciful journey that the ending was altogher too anti-climatic to make me happy. But like a life well lived, the best part being the journey itself, the best part of the book was the reading of it. I believed in omens before reading the book and I still believe in omens and felt that Coelho did a great job writing about such a subtle subject.I gave it four stars for the simple direct uncomplicated unpretencious thought provoking writing. Except for the ending, it was an altogether enjoyable read.
Not as good as I expected Some of my favorite quotes from the book: "Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees." (pg. 91)
"It's the simple things in lie that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them." (pg. 15)
"The hand of God is firm, but infinitely generous." (preface, pg. vi)
A quote I did not agree with: "We only accept a truth after we have first wholeheartedly rejected it." (preface, pg. vi)
Find the shepherd boy inside of you "When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream," the Alchemist.
The underlying theme of this magical, entertaining and spiritually-based book is such that one can't help but realize that we each have a destiny and our only responsibility is to fulfill our calling.
Join the shepherd boy who discovers his hidden passion and how the universe conspired him to to realize his dream in the most amazing ways.
From helping a shop owner increase business, to meeting the love of his life, to being accosted by bandits and finally realizing his dream, the shepherd boy lives in each of us.
Will you heed your calling? Find out by reading The Alchemist. You will be very glad you did.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
