The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition by Paulo Coelho (ISBN:0061122416)

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		The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition
	
				(14184 reviews)			
(344483 Readers)

			Paulo Coelho		
	
Like the one-time bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly...more
 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   less

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I had a temp job back in May which, for the first week, afforded a lot of down time. The other guys I worked with and I would end up sitting around often with nothing to do, and as we worked around books, we'd start reading. I came across this one knowing full well what it was... it was one of those titles people claim change their lives. The sort of thing recommended vigorously by people that...more
 I had a temp job back in May which, for the first week, afforded a lot of down time. The other guys I worked with and I would end up sitting around often with nothing to do, and as we worked around books, we'd start reading. I came across this one knowing full well what it was... it was one of those titles people claim change their lives. The sort of thing recommended vigorously by people that might not even know what "Alchemist" means, even after reading the book. I'd long been skeptical, but decided to give it a shot... I didn't want anything too lengthy, since I -was- technically at work. I must say I was surprised... the story went along without being too preachy, and developed a little magical world around it. Coelho also has a rather simple writing style which works well with the story. It had a simple message to it, one I'd heard a thousand times, so I can't say it was life altering, but it was definitely a good quick read. If I could give half-stars, this would be a 3.5   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Almost gave it two stars, maybe I should have. I just did not like this book. I know you lose a lot in translation, but I never really grasped the writing story and never felt like I understood any of the characters. Simply put, I didn't care about this book. I felt like the writing style was totally affected and contrived. I don't know if Coelho was going for a fable kind of story, but whatever...more
 Almost gave it two stars, maybe I should have. I just did not like this book. I know you lose a lot in translation, but I never really grasped the writing story and never felt like I understood any of the characters. Simply put, I didn't care about this book. I felt like the writing style was totally affected and contrived. I don't know if Coelho was going for a fable kind of story, but whatever it was, it just failed for me. And I dislike books that create this "moral/self-help" aura, because I find it gives the reader this message of if you want something to happen, you need to want it as hard as you can, without caring about anything else, not allowing yourself to doubt it, or let criticisms will get in the way then it will happen. A notion of which is false and harmful.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
This is simply the best book I've read so far. If there were the adjective "bestest", then this is the bestest (what kind of word bestest is anyway?). The story is revolving at the life of Santiago, a shepherd in Spain who wants to achieve his dream or in the novel's word, Personal Legend. His journey to find his Personal Legend leads him from the mainland Spain to...more
 This is simply the best book I've read so far. If there were the adjective "bestest", then this is the bestest (what kind of word bestest is anyway?). The story is revolving at the life of Santiago, a shepherd in Spain who wants to achieve his dream or in the novel's word, Personal Legend. His journey to find his Personal Legend leads him from the mainland Spain to Tangiers, an oasis, and Egypt. All to find his Personal Legends.
This one is a truly inspiring and motivating work. It teaches you that you are in control of your life. That you shouldn't blame fate for your misfortune whereas you have the opportunity to change it. Also it tells us that all of us have our own Personal Legend or something to achieve. And the whole universe will help us by giving out pointers or omens. Thus we are given an option whether to ignore the omens and the quest to search our Personal Legend (and only work to find food, water, and shelter) or pursue it the hard way.
Well, I've only read the Indonesian translated version of it that's titled "Sang Alkemis". And it's pretty confusing with all the allegories and metaphores. Especially when it was translated into Bahasa Indonesia. Nevertheless, this one is a masterpiece. A superb reading. Best of the best!!!!!!   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I wanted to read this after I heard that it had set the Guiness World Record for most translated book by a living author (something like 67 languages) and had sold on the order of 65 million copies worldwide. I thought: 'Wow. Must be fabulous!' ... Well, not so much. Basically it's an allegory where a young man goes off to seek his fortune only to discover, after much trial, that it was at home...more
 I wanted to read this after I heard that it had set the Guiness World Record for most translated book by a living author (something like 67 languages) and had sold on the order of 65 million copies worldwide. I thought: 'Wow. Must be fabulous!' ... Well, not so much. Basically it's an allegory where a young man goes off to seek his fortune only to discover, after much trial, that it was at home all along. The prose is simple (almost sparse), but that may have something to do with the translation from Portuguese. Coelho's attempts to present life's lessons in a subtle fashion are in vain (too many 'duh' moments). The story itself is intriguing though, almost an adventure tale, and is lined with mystic shamen, unattainable women, and warring sheiks. Perhaps it's the simplicity and the fantasy that has attracted so many readers around the world. One big advantage ... if you start reading it and find it not to your taste, you'll likely find there aren't many more pages to finish. It's a very short and quick read.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
The Alchemist was for me an awkward blend of Herman Hesse and the "if you visualize it, it will come" books like The Secret. You know -- the books people say helped them to get a nice house and car and successful career in business. In the mist of all this, is an interesting and romanticized view of century old Arabic ...desert culture. Plot is simple: A nameless Shepard is told by an ancient...more
 The Alchemist was for me an awkward blend of Herman Hesse and the "if you visualize it, it will come" books like The Secret. You know -- the books people say helped them to get a nice house and car and successful career in business. In the mist of all this, is an interesting and romanticized view of century old Arabic ...desert culture. Plot is simple: A nameless Shepard is told by an ancient king that he has to take a journey to fulfill his "Personal Legend" of finding gold in Egypt and that the universe will help him. On the way he stumbles, meets all different kinds of people, falls in love and experiences the mystical (he actually turns into wind). The book could have been good but all and all came off to me as cheesy and annoying. For instance, the women in the desert are supposed to wait for their "men of the desert" to come home from either wars or their journeys to find their "personal legends/treasures". So loving a man and letting him find his "personal legend" while she waits in a secluded Oasis cleaning/cooking etc is a woman's "personal treasure"? And the book says trust your heart but also trust God/Allah that war is meant to be? While I liked the book's fable like quality and feel it did have some good advice about overcoming fear of the universe and the fear of failure, there just wasn't enough there for me. Perhaps it was lost in translation? The book was written in Brazilian originally I think?   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
The Alchemist is singularly the worst book i've ever read. It's a simple book written for simple people ' this book changed my life ' a quite common review, the trouble is this is what this book promises which is of course nonsense. No book should be able to change your life unless of course you've not read much.Yet this is what the book promises some sort of daisycutter...more
 The Alchemist is singularly the worst book i've ever read. It's a simple book written for simple people ' this book changed my life ' a quite common review, the trouble is this is what this book promises which is of course nonsense. No book should be able to change your life unless of course you've not read much.Yet this is what the book promises some sort of daisycutter experience of a book given you some brilliantly insightful understanding of the world unattainable to all the rest of us poor mortals who haven't stumbled across this rather short infantile novel.What this book actually gives is a bunch of wishy washy fortune cookie type pearls of wisdom about self. ' Ask and the universe will provide' rubbish you either accept the existence of a supreme being or the fact the universe is totally indifferent to your petty gripes. This book is for people who want a quick answer to all lifes mysteries and want it in less than 300 pages. Incidentally most people who like this book express their enthusiasm in less than six words and can't spell.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Wow...I wasted 4 light-reading days on this? I cannot understand how this became a best seller worldwide, and how it has been translated into like 900 languages. I mean, I can totally understand how, for something to get that popular it would have to appeal to the likes of many non-readers. But if found this poorly written morality tale to be of minimal consequence.

For christ's sake...more
 Wow...I wasted 4 light-reading days on this? I cannot understand how this became a best seller worldwide, and how it has been translated into like 900 languages. I mean, I can totally understand how, for something to get that popular it would have to appeal to the likes of many non-readers. But if found this poorly written morality tale to be of minimal consequence.

For christ's sake (LITERALLY!), if I wanted to read this sort of material I would read the bible. At least while reading that I know what is the ultimate point. Here I started reading something that just turned into a "god is good, adventure and believe in yourself" good vs evil tale. And not even one that was well versed in any sort of outstandingly creative mechanics. 

Not to mention that the storyline itself is unoriginal.

This was the first book in as far as I can remembered, that has actually pissed me off. I've been disappointed with books before, but this just made me angry.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Finally, the book I heard a lot of. And it thrilled me more than the first book of his I read, the Zahir. I started this book with not much amusement. With very simple elements, a boy and some sheeps, the story started but ended with a style that comes naturally to Paulo Coelho and a reading delight for me. 
And it offers some of the greatest words of spirituality and philosophy that you are...more
 Finally, the book I heard a lot of. And it thrilled me more than the first book of his I read, the Zahir. I started this book with not much amusement. With very simple elements, a boy and some sheeps, the story started but ended with a style that comes naturally to Paulo Coelho and a reading delight for me. 
And it offers some of the greatest words of spirituality and philosophy that you are bound to think about the happenings again and again. I am used to such philosophical talks but these books really help me giving words to my own personal findings. I was so amused by the sentences that I finally decided to update my status in social networking with them. I sometimes think that Paulo Coelho should have been a spiritual leader. But he has decided to send his messages in novels rather than in journals or boring speeches. A medium most will understand and enjoy. No doubt I will read the remaining novels by him also.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
This much acclaimed book starts out innocently enough with its fable-like Little Prince/Arabian Nights style with the simple tale of a Spanish shepherd in search of treasure at the Giza Pyramids, but quickly becomes overtaken by Coelho's preachy quasi-spiritual, quasi-philosophical mouthpiece characters. Each new character is simply another mouthpiece for the author to convey his...more
 This much acclaimed book starts out innocently enough with its fable-like Little Prince/Arabian Nights style with the simple tale of a Spanish shepherd in search of treasure at the Giza Pyramids, but quickly becomes overtaken by Coelho's preachy quasi-spiritual, quasi-philosophical mouthpiece characters. Each new character is simply another mouthpiece for the author to convey his self-help guru perspective on life, through his self-coined, condescending capitalized catchphrases: "Personal Legend", "Soul of the World", "Language of the World", and while acutely inspiring at times, it can be equally irritating. While the message of following one's dreams and living out one's own Personal Legend is bold and clear, the narrative execution is muddled and the characters, one-dimensional and transparent. The ending was cute, though, and the dash of irony was enough for me to give this book a passing grade. But I don't think I'll be touching anymore of the "Brazilian Wizard's" books again anytime soon.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
the story of santiago is an eternal testament to transforming  power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.this story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andulusian sheperd boy named santiago who travels from his homeland in spain to the egyptians  desert in search of a treasure buried in the pyramids, along the way he meets a gypsy woman,...more
 the story of santiago is an eternal testament to transforming  power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.this story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andulusian sheperd boy named santiago who travels from his homeland in spain to the egyptians  desert in search of a treasure buried in the pyramids, along the way he meets a gypsy woman, a man who called himself the king and an alchemist, all of whom point santiago in teh direction of his quest. no one knows what the treasure is, or if santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. but what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. lush, evocative, and deeply humane, you'll love it for sure.. simple but profound.
this book really help me a lot, it motivated me to continue dreaming but not only that, but to make them real!!with God everything is posible
full of hope... about dreams and making them real,especially when God stand beside us.... fun   hide

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