Book: The Alchemist
Basic Information:
Author: Paulo Coelho
Edition: ePub on Libby from the Fresno County Library
Publisher: HarperOne
ISBN: 9780062315007 (ISBN10: 0062315005)
Start Date: January 31, 2024
Read Date: February 11, 2024
188 pages
Genre: Fiction, Philosophy, Personal Growth, Book Group
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 4 out of 5
Religion: Mysticism
Religious Quality: 4 out of 5
Christianity-Teaching Quality: 2 out of 5
Fiction-Tells a good story: 5 out of 5
Fiction-Character development: 5 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Coelho writes a story, maybe an extended parable, about a Spanish young man by the name of Santiago. He is a shepherd, tending to 60 of his own sheep throughout the countryside of lower Spain. One night he sleeps in a broken down unused chapel. He has a dream about finding treasure by the Pyramids. The story shows him pursuing this treasure by consulting a fortune teller. Then a king in disguise tells him more about how to go about finding this treasure.
He sells his sheep, goes to Tangiers, gets robbed and works for a crystal merchant for almost a year. He saves up enough money to go home and live on. Instead he takes off across the desert in the company of an Englishman. They get stranded at an oasis. There he meets a girl whom he falls in love with. He has a vision that the oasis will be attacked. This leads to something like being a hero to the oasis people.
But an alchemist searches for him and gives him the option of fulfilling his dream or staying at the oasis and prospering. Santiago chooses to fulfill the dream. The alchemist leads him on and teaches him how to listen and interact with the desert. Then the alchemist leaves him, but close enough that Santiago can find his Pyramid. But the treasure is not there, but he is given a sign on where the treasure is.
Overall, this is more a story of a young man finding purpose in his life and living out his dream or in Coelho’s words, his Personal Legend.
Cast of Characters:
- Santiago-shepherd boy who goes on his Personal Legend leading to foreign lands and back home.
- Old woman-reader of palms and interpreter of dreams
- Melchizadek-old man who Santiago meets in Tarifa who talks about Personal Legend.
- Thief
- Crystal Merchant in Tangier
- Englishman-person who was studying to become an alchemist
- Camel driver-
- Fatima-In the oasis. Santiago is in love with her.
- Alchemist-200 year old
Places
- Andalusia
- Tarifa-now a lot more famous for its windsports and beautiful beaches.
- Tangier
- Al-Fayoum oasis
- Pyramids
- Recommendation: Laura-Book Group selection
- When: December 14, 2023
- Date Became Aware of Book: 1990
- Why do I want to read this book: I am a bit reluctant to read this book. Previously I read Coelho’s The Pilgramage about the Camino de Santiago. I thought it made a wreck out of a Catholic walk.
- What do I think I will get out of it?I do not know
Thoughts:
Alchemist: a person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process. Usually we think of this kind of person as concentrating on changing lead to gold. While this is a small part of the story, being an alchemist is more than that in Coelho’s eyes. I think Coelho is portraying an alchemist as someone who can change themselves.
Foreword
Coelho’s book was definitely not an instant bestseller-nobody was buying it. But this was Coelho's own personal quest-in the book he names these quests as Personal Legend. So he did not give up. He adopted the themes he talks about, such as when you are pursuing your Personal Legend, the whole universe conspires to help you. Coelho says that When I sat down to write The Alchemist, all I knew is that I wanted to write about my soul.
In 1986 Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.On the path, he had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. In an interview, Coelho stated "[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer." Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time. From Wikipedia
Another theme is understanding the language of the world/universe/God.
He feels that the story of Santiago, the shepherd boy, is his story. But he also feels that each of us are also Santiago. According to him, each person in the world is involved in everybody else’s Personal Legend. Even if my neighbor doesn’t understand my religion or understand my politics, he can understand my story. If he can understand my story, then he’s never too far from me
Themes in the book:
Language of God. Coelho talks about how dreams are this language and how God communicates with us.
Personal Legend-this is the discovery of what you are all about, the quest which you want to go on.
Soul of the World: it is nourished by people’s happiness. When you want something with all of your heart, you are close to the Soul of the World.
Soul of God-the Soul of the World is part of the Soul of God
World Conspires to help you.
Principle of favorability. Or beginners luck. This favors those who are at the start of something.
Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there
God is the one who sets signs and omens in our path. It is up to us to recognize and follow them.
Alchemy--it is about penetrating to the Soul of the World, and discovery the treasure reserved for you
Prologue
The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. It was about Narcissus with a twist concerning the lake saying: 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,
Part One
Santiago was a Spanish shepherd boy with 60 sheep. He falls asleep in a breakdown church and dreams a strange dream. But the dream is incomplete. This will be a spot which plays into the story line. He had been to a town where he had been able to sell wool to a merchant. He had grown fond of the merchant’s daughter.
Like seamen, shepherds could always have a place where there was someone who could make them forget the joys of carefree wandering. Interesting phrase. Coelho can turn these phrases.
Coelho talks about how the sheep look to Santiago. They trust me, and they’ve forgotten how to rely on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment. This is the essence of what a good politician learns. It is not the promises, it is when the people are content is when you are popular. They never have to make any decisions, he thought. Maybe that’s why they always stay close to me.
We complain about things which are essential. In Santiago’s case, it was about the burden of its weight, he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn. But he is wise enough to understand that it is this weight which keeps him warm at night. Like a warm jacket, everything, including the boy, has a purpose. He had wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man’s sins.
His desire to see more of the world besides his village led him to be a shepherd. He had attended seminary to improve his family’s existence. He could go wherever he and his sheep desired. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
In Tarifa there was an old woman who interpreted dreams. He would see her about his dream before meeting with the merchant’s daughter. The old woman says that dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand. She says that she will not charge him anything, but if he finds his treasure, he is to give a tenth to her. She says to seek the pyramids to find the treasure. She goes on and says that It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wisemen are able to understand them.
Santiago was able to make friends wherever he went. When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And then as people change, they want you to change. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
He then meets an old man. Eventually Santiago finds out his name is Melchizadek. The boy is irritated by the old man interrupting his reading. But the old man says that he has already read the book and like all books, they describes people’s inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world’s greatest lie. That lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.
The old man wanted three of his sheep in order to tell him how to find his treasure. Who is this old guy Santiago wants to know? The king of Salem-see Genesis. Melchizadek says that the most important [thing] is that you have succeeded in discovering your Personal Legend. … Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. But there is a force which is at work saying that you cannot fulfill your Personal Legend. Melchizedek goes on and says that The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness. Also that when you want something , all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. We are stopped by being practical. people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.
We are hampered by what people think of us. There is a tendency to restrict our dreams to be OK with other people. We give up our Personal Legend.
People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being.
Melchizadek wants a tenth of Santiago’s flock in order to help Santiago find his treasure. When Santiago tries to bargain by giving him a tenth of the treasure, Melchizedek says that it’s good that you’ve learned that everything in life has its price.
Santiago had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have. This is the crux to many of our decisions. How badly do we want something which is out of our reach, or which we need to at least strive for.
when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.
Santiago felt the wind from Morocco. The boy felt jealous of the freedom of the wind, and saw that he could have the same freedom. There was nothing to hold him back except himself. One of the key teachings of Coelho.
He decided to follow his Personal Legend. The old man said that his treasure was near the Pyramids in Egypt. Santiago was to follow the omens. He gives Santiago two stones: Urim and Thummin-black and white, yes and no. Always ask an objective question-all of our questions, particularly to ourselves, should be that way. Definite, not mushy. The old man advises, try to make your own decisions, but the stones will help you read the omens.
The scene now changes to Tangier. Santiago thought that now he had money for the sale of his sheep, it would be a straight line to get to the Pyramids. If God leads the sheep so well, he will also lead a man, he thought, and that made him feel better.
But he gets snookered out of his money on the first day there. A man offered to guide him across the desert, but he needed to acquire camels to do that. So Santiago gave him his money and never saw him again. The shopkeeper where he was at tried to indicate, do not trust him. I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does. He asked the stones if what the old man said still held true? Yes. Should he continue on his Personal Legend? But the stones left that decision up to him. He had learned that there were certain things one shouldn’t ask about, so as not to flee from one’s own Personal Legend.
He realized that he could look at Tangiers as a strange place or a new one. He chose a new one. As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.
If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world.
He meets a crystal merchant. He cleans his crystal and the merchant feeds him. But the merchant noted that the boy did not need to clean the crystal, he would have fed him anyway, because the Koran required him to do so. Why did you have me clean the crystal then? Because the crystal was dirty. And both you and I needed to cleanse our minds of negative thoughts. There is a sense that good work will cleanse the mind.
Santiago was offered a job by the crystal merchant. After a long pause, Santiago made a decision “I need money to buy some sheep.”
Part Two
Santiago had been with the merchant for a month and even though not content, was resigned to the fact that he would not be able to go after his Personal Legend. The treasure was now nothing but a painful memory, and he tried to avoid thinking about it. And that is how dreams of youth fade away. First we rationalize that we will do it later, then get carried away by the woes of this world. The merchant is cautious, since we two have to live with our mistakes and do not have enough resources to cover major ones. But Santiago says that We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it’s doing to help us. It’s called the principle of favorability.
Santiago thought the merchant did not think of travel. But he did. He had wanted to go to Mecca to fulfill the requirements of the Koran. But now, he is afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living. It is much easier to dream than to do. And like a ball at rest, unless something happens, it will always be at rest. And now, he sees Santiago and realizes that Santiago wants to fulfill his dream.
Every blessing ignored becomes a curse. Santiago kept making suggestions about how to expand the shop. The merchant is reluctant and talks about why-first, he did not see the possibilities and second he did not want to change. Santiago has been the impetus in making him change. The merchant is both blessed and disturbed.
After eleven months in Tangier, Santiago had made enough to go back to Tafier. But the merchant being wise said that is not what the boy would be doing. As he was packing, he thought about the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. Was shepherding what he really wanted to do? He was no longer happy with that decision. He felt far from the old king. But then realized that he was seeing the old king in several places in the city, even the crystal merchant had a resemblance. He decided to investigate how far it really was to go to the Pyramids. (The answer is 2,800 miles. Sounds like a “normal” camel can travel 40 miles a day-a military one 80 to 120. So this would be at least a 70 day trip.)
Santiago meets up with the Englishman who ignores him. The Englishman wants to meet the 200 year old alchemist to gain his secrets. But warms to him when he sees Santiago fingering the Urin and Thummin. They catch a caravan to Al-Fayoan.
Alchemy-what is Coelho’s definition?
Santiago realized that making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.
The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being.
The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.
The caravan Santiago was going in had detours, but whenever they had to move from the original objective, they always got reoriented into the direction of the oasis. Everybody knew this because of where a certain star was. That is except for the Englishman who only studied his books.
As they were going along, there was a rumor of a war between tribes. When asked about danger, the camel driver said that when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.
Emerald Tablet-contained only a few lines, but was the key to unlocking all wisdom.
The Englishman wanted to make everything complex. Santiago seemed to want to simplify everything. To the Englishman, he wanted the formula to be able to repetitively turn lead to gold. Santiago seemed like he wanted to learn how to live and change with life. The boy was becoming more and more convinced that alchemy could be learned in one’s daily life.
Four alchemists, which Coelho says found out the secrets of alchemy: Helvétius, Elias, Fulcanelli, and Geber.
Everyone has his or her own way of learning things,
The camel driver noted that he was not concerned about the war between tribes. I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.
The caravan arrives at the oasis. There are a myriad of languages spoken by several people. Santiago has gotten in tune with the desert. He realizes that people have gotten wrapped up with words and pictures that they do not know how to read the signs of nature around them. God revealed his secrets easily to all his creatures.
The oasis was a place of peace. Weapons were handed over. Santiago realizes that as he is pursuing his Personal Legend, it is getting harder. No longer does he have beginner's luck. But he realizes that God has set signs and omens in his path. This is a new realization to him-that God sets things for him.
The Englishman thought he would find the alchemist at the oasis. But they could not find them. Santiago realizes that there are a different set of customs, such as talking to a woman who was married was not allowed.
But he sees a woman and falls in love. It is not an infatuation, but a recognition of what he is feeling comes from his sense of the world. He finds out her name is Fatima. As the time came to a month and the war may not end, Fatima and Santiago got to know each other. She wanted him to seek his Personal Legend and she would wait. She felt she was part of his Personal Legend.
The Englishman found the alchemist. The alchemist told him to try to change lead to gold. So that is what he will be doing. This time, the Englishman felt he would succeed because he was doing this without fear of failure.
When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.
As Santiago gazed into the desert, he had a vision of an army attacking the oasis. He was convinced to talk to the oasis leaders. They accepted the prophecy, but with the proviso that if the attack did not happen, he would die. A seer said that God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is only for one reason: it's a future written so as to be altered.
He had succeeded in reaching through to the Soul of the World, and now the price for having done so might be his life. It was a frightening bet.
A lone horseman with a sword confronts Santiago about reading the omen of the hawks. Santiago is at peace. If he was to die, he would die pursuing his Personal Legend. Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World. The horseman was the alchemist.
Santiago visits the alchemist after the battle. He is rich and feels more content. But the alchemist is meant to point him to where his treasure is. Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. This seems like it is just a restatement of what Jesus said: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The alchemist takes them out into the desert where Santiago finds a sign of life, a cobra. The alchemist catches the cobra and encircles it. Santiago is willing to go back to Fatima and the oasis. But the alchemist says that She knows that men have to go away in order to return. The alchemist shows him he will be rich and powerful and discontent if he does not seek his Personal Legend.
The alchemist has not taught him anything. There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action.
you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation. Reminds me of what Martin Luther said about a single grain of wheat: If you could understand a single grain of wheat, you would die of wonder. (Unknown source)
Every second of the search (for his personal treasure) is an encounter with God.
Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.
They are confronted by tribesmen. The alchemist says the truth. But they do not believe him and go on their way. The alchemist notes to Santiago that even when you possess great treasures within, people will seldom believe you.
anyone who interferes with the Personal Legend of another thing never will discover his own
They are captured by one of the warring tribes. The alchemist says that Santiago is an alchemist and will make the wind rise on the third day. Is this a reference to Jonah being spit out of the whale on the third day? Or Jesus rising on the third day?
Santiago is put to the test. In doing so, he learns how to be with the desert. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. … Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives. Santiago converses with the desert and the wind. The wind teaches him how to be the wind and Santiago creates a major windstorm.
When you are loved, you can do anything in creation.
When we love, we always strive to become better than what we are.
After the windstorm, there were two happy people. First, the alchemist as he knew he had found his perfect disciple. The second, was the chief of the tribe, because he saw the hand of God.
Coelho takes the Biblical story of the centurion who has a sick slave. He comes to Jesus and asks that his slave be healed, but does not require Jesus’ presence or touch. Jesus says his faith is astonishing. The alchemist says that No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.”
Santiago comes to the Pyramids and feels that his Personal Legend has been accomplished. He has examined his heart and has accomplished the goal. But no project is completed until its objective has been accomplished. He finds a spot in the dunes near the Pyramid and starts to dig. And he digs all night and finds nothing. Robbers come upon him and take what he has and beat him, leaving him. Except the lead robber comes back and says how foolish he is to follow a dream. He had a dream on this very spot which said for him to dig in a certain spot in Spain. But he was not foolish enough to follow the dream.
Epilogue
Santiago is now back at the spot where he had his original dream, digging. If he hadn’t believed in the significance of recurrent dreams, he would not have met the Gypsy woman, the king, the thief, or . . . “Well, it’s a long list. And he found the treasure buried in the old beaten up church. He makes sure to give his 10% to the Gypsy. And then he smells Fatima in the wind and will return to her.
Evaluation:
A reader’s digest version can be summed up by Shakespeare in Hamlet: To Thine Self Be True. Or the older, longer version is Bunyon’s Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress. In the latter, you have a person struggling to overcome all manner of obstacles, in the former is the goal of a person.
Paulo Coehlo’s Santiago is similar to both. He has a quest, or in Coehlo’s terminology, a Personal Legend. He is seeking a treasure which he has seen in a dream. This Personal Legend takes him from being a shepherd in Spain to Tangier’s where he works for a crystal merchant. Then across the desert where he meets his love. And then finally to Egypt and the Pyramids. There he discovers where his treasure is.
Along the way, he has encouragers and interpreters of his Personal Legend. There are also obstacles which he has to overcome. He refines and grows until Santiago achieves not only what he is looking for, but also a status of understanding himself and his world.
This is a book which is worth reading, if for no other reason to refresh your desire to fulfill your calling and not fall short. Coehlo’s story is about average, but that is not why you read this tale. Like Jesus’ parables, it is the point which causes you to listen and read and consider yourself. And Coehlo’s point of striving for your goal is well worth considering.
Notes from my book group:
How would you have defined what an alchemist is before reading this book? What do you think Coehlo's definition of an alchemist is? Is the changed life which Coelho talks about similar to or the same as how Christians talk about as having their lives changed?
Who is called an alchemist in the book? Why have they acquired that tag?
Why does Coelho start with the myth of Narcissus?
Coelho identifies something called Personal Legend. What is it?
What Personal Legends are identified in the book? Did anybody’s Person Legend seem a bit shallow?
How much of the Alchemist is personal to Coelho? When I sat down to write The Alchemist, all I knew is that I wanted to write about my soul. As a note, Coelho went on the Camino de Santiago before writing this book and wrote The Pilgrimage. It is said that Coelho found himself on the Camino. Do you think Coelho's choice of Santiago (James in English) was by chance or that Coelho was trying to portray something deeper?
Santiago was taken by a merchant’s daughter in one of the towns he visited. But eventually fell in love with Fatima, a daughter of the desert oasis. How would Santiago's pursuit of his vision be different if he had continued to pursue the daughter? Would it have been a mistake to have settled with her? Would he have been true to himself if he had? How can a person tell in the moment what would be the true thing to do?
Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own. Who knows best how to lead your life? Who tries to lead it?
Melchizedek says that people think that they have an inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world’s greatest lie. That lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie. Do you think he is right? Can you find examples of this?
What themes does Coelho explore in this book? Did they resonate with you? Did you find any of the themes different from your way of thinking?
when you want something , all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. Have you found this is true? In what way?
Santiago had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have. Explain this.
What was or is your Personal Legend?
The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being. Is this true?
The Englishman’s Personal Legend is to turn lead into gold. How fulfilling do you think he will be if he is able to? Why? He thinks he will be able to after talking to an alchemist, because he no longer has a fear of failure. Why does Coelho include this into his tale? How does fear inhibit us?
Coelho notes that we tend to modify our desires, or Personal Legend, based upon other people’s expectations. How have you felt this?
Name some of the reasons which Coelho gives for not seeking a Personal Legend,
Talk about this statement: Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.
If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. How true is this statement?
A while back we read The Shack which had a whole bunch of pithy sayings. How would you compare The Alchemist to The Shack? What makes one set of sayings important and another set to be truisms?
Coelho talks about the wind at certain places in the book. Where does the wind come into play? How does Coelho use the wind to move Santiago? Why does he use the wind in this way?
Do you think Coelho was using the Urim and Thummin like an Ouija Board or a Magic Eight Ball? How does Coelho say to use the Urim and Thummin? When Santiago was in Tangiers, he asked the stones if he should continue on his quest. The stones were silent, Why? How does the Old Testament say it should be used?
Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. How does this compare with Jesus’ statement about heart and treasure? (where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.)
Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World. Why? What is this Language of the World according to Coelho?
How do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why the title of The Alchemist?
Does this story work as a parable or morality story?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Which character was the most convincing? Least?
Which character did you identify with?
Which one did you dislike?
Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was there anybody you would consider religious?
How did they show it?
Was the book overtly religious?
How did it affect the book's story?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “takeaways” did you have from this book?
What central ideas does the author present?
Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific
What evidence does the author use to support the book's ideas?
Is the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
Does the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment? Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
Are these idea’s controversial?
To whom and why?
Describe the culture talked about in the book.
How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
Of how God is viewed?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
Reading Groups General Fiction Guide
Book Club Bites - The questions do not seem to be that good as there are several misstatements
New Words:
- Levanter: an easterly wind that blows in the western Mediterranean Sea and southern France
- Maktub: an Arabic word meaning “it is written”, deals with the philosophical idea of fate or destiny and is significantly incorporated into Islam
- Simum: hot wind
- First Line of Forward: When The Alchemist was first published twenty-five years ago in my native Brazil, no one noticed.
- First Line of story: The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought
- Last Line: If he hadn’t believed in the significance of recurrent dreams, he would not have met the Gypsy woman, the king, the thief, or . . . “Well, it’s a long list.”
- It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. Part One
- It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wisemen are able to understand them. Part One
- Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own. Part One
- we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie. Part One
- People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being. Part One
- when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises. Part One
- As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure. Part One
- Every blessing ignored becomes a curse. Part Two
- making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision. Part Two
- The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being. Part Two
- when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward. Part Two
- If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Part Two
- Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. Part Two
- When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. Part Two
- When we love, we always strive to become better than what we are. Part Two
- No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it. Part Two
- no project is completed until its objective has been accomplished. Part Two
- Foreword
- Prologue
- Part One
- Part Two
- Epilogue
References:
- Publisher's Web Site for Book
- Author's Web Site
- Wikipedia-Book
- Wikipedia-Author
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- Barnes and Noble
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- Times of India review
- YouTube - Four Minute Books
- Reading Group Guides
- Bartleby
- Book Club Bites - The questions do not seem to be that good as there are several misstatements
- Borderline Millennials
- Course Hero
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