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The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
by: Paulo Coelho

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Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 869.342
EAN: 9780062502186
ISBN: 0062502182
Label: HarperSanFrancisco
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: May 10, 1995
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Studio: HarperSanFrancisco
Sales Rank: 9339

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
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

Product Description:

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world, and this tenth anniversary edition, with a new introduction from the author, will only increase that following. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the 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, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

Download 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.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Old Man and the Sea meets 1001 Arabian Nights
This story was my first read by Paulo Coelho. It harkens back to Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. The life values the book tries to inculcate in its reader are venerable. The allusions, and prose of religion and God meld to make an inspirational voyage. In the word's simplicities, lies the greatest man's conundrums.

Rating:

- The lesson
The lesson of this book is one that my father has been teaching me since i was a boy, and that is the best way to learn something is to get up and do it. Everyone that I look up to has also told me the same thing. The best way to achieve your dreams is to take the first step.

Rating:

- One of my top 5 books
Simple fast read. Many lessons in this book. I have passed it to friends who end up buying their own. Its got a great message. I highly recommend it. If it ends up not being for you, you still had a good read with a good story that is well written. Can't go wrong!

Rating:

- La Alquimista
Great book for anyone, but especially those trying to find and follow their dreams (read: college students). Combine it with Iain Holligshead's "Twentysomething" and you couldn't ask for better required reading in the second half of college!

Rating:

- Search for Treasure in this Book
This book was absolutely delightful. It's a fast, easy read that still has substance. It left me feeling uplifted, with its simple message told elegantly and well. Coelho seems to have a talent for squeezing big ideas into a simple story, a boy searching for treasure. The mystical elements are handled deftly, and the reader never trips over complex or cumbersome mythology, but instead glides happily along to the end with the hero. The alchemist of the title could be the character of the same name or it could be the boy, but I think it is the author, with his lovely, eloquent prose that speaks volumes.

Books : The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream