Product Description

"The Alchemist" is a global phenomenon, selling over 30 million copies worldwide. This exciting new edition includes exclusive content, such as a new forward to the book by the author, an interview with Paulo Coelho, and much more, providing an in-depth look at this much-loved title. Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. This is such a book - a magical fable about learning to listen to your heart, read the omens strewn along life's path and, above, all follow your dreams. This is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of travelling the world in search of a worldly treasure as fabulous as any ever found. From his home in Spain, he journeys to the markets of Tangiers, and from there into the Egyptian desert, where a fateful encounter with the alchemist awaits him. With Paulo Coelho's visionary blend of spirituality, magical realism and folklore, "The Alchemist" is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people's lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #402 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-06
• Original language: Portuguese
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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 sense 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 Andalucian 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."

Review
'His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people.' TIMES 'One of the few to deserve the term Publishing Phenomenon.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Coelho's writing is beautifully poetic but his message is what counts! he gives me hope and puts a smile on my face.' DAILY EXPRESS 'I love The Alchemist.' OPRAH WINFREY 'The Alchemist is a beautiful book about magic, dreams and the treasures we seek elsewhere and then find on our doorstep.' MADONNA

A poetic book with very big ideas about life, faith and destiny from Brazil's best-known novelist. Through the simple tale of the adventures of an Andalusian shepherd boy who sets out to make a fortune but instead finds treasure within himself, Coelho weaves a magical fable with an important and inspiring message: 'To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation.' Beautifully written, here is a story that will stay with you long after you've finished reading it. (Kirkus UK)

Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992 - not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable - in other words, a bag of wind. The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart." A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits - a far cry from Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility. Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Paulo Coelho was born in Brazil and has become one of the most widely read authors in the world today. Renowned for his best-loved work 'The Alchemist', he has sold over 65 million books worldwide and has been translated into 60 languages. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, he is a storyteller with the power to inspire nations and change people's lives.

Customer Reviews

Many think it's great although I was disappointed.
The Alchemist tells a story that is simple, yet is considered by many to be profound. The protagonist is the restless Santiago, who while training to become a priest feels the strong desire to travel. So he trades in the seminary life for a more peripatetic profession. He buys some sheep and takes up shepherding.

Day in and day out he watches over his flock. And while he loves them, he cannot help but feel that their existence is somehow limited - grass and water, water and grass. They never seem to appreciate the beautiful landscape of Santiago's homeland, the Spanish province of Andalucia. His sheep never seem to know that there might be something else to life. They don't dream.

Even Santiago's parents dream - or at least they once did. But theirs is a life of struggle, which long ago extinguished any thoughts beyond life's basics. Now Santiago dreams and has dreams. His is the heart of an explorer, one who longs to see what is just over the next hill.

After feeling that he's being shown some omens, Santiago consults a gypsy who interprets the signs as indicating that his future is to travel to Egypt. Whereas most would have listened but not heeded such advice, our hero sells his sheep and sets sail to find himself.

The Alchemist is an old-fashioned fable so it is short, sweet and an easy read. And as a fable it offers us a message, which is unabashedly simple. This is the story of someone who listens to their heart and follows their dream.

Coelho's point is that too many of us believe what the village soothsayer tells Santiago is the biggest lie of all time - that we cannot control our destiny. But this isn't a story to suggest that one can blindly do what one wants without consequences. Following one's dream has a price. Equally, not following one's dream has a cost.

While many consider this work to be a spiritual masterpiece, I have to say that I have never considered The Alchemist to be a life-changing read. To be sure, it is inspirational and it contains hefty doses of local colour. It might even get you thinking about your own dreams and what you could do to follow them. But its story is a relatively weak one. And disappointingly, the philosophy offered to its readers is not all that distinguishable from so many others on the self-help shelf.

Charming Fable and Adventure
In a way this book mirrors Paulo Coelho's own life. Early in his life he left a career as a lawyer in Brazil to travel throughout South America, North Africa and Europe and explore mystical and spiritual philosophies as well as the different countries. The hero in this book is a poor boy living in Andalusia who has a dream that tells him to go to the Egyptian pyramids where he will find treasure. A gypsy interprets his dream and encourages him to go the pyramids. A man calling himself the King of Salem presents him with the Urim and Thummin stones to be used for divination. Thus the adventure begins, one that leads him to North Africa where he confronts perils in the desert and finds true love on an oasis. His journey pits him against both physical and spiritual challenges that change and enlarge his world view. The story has the charm, magic and spirit of adventure of many classic stories and well deserves it place as one of the best selling books of all time.

A beautiful story
I was going to write a review and then saw that P. P. Kennedy had written pretty much what I was thinking. But as Magnus Magnussen used to say, I've started so I'll finish. Firstly, this is a novel, it won't change your life. But it is a beautiful simple story, written like a fable. The writing is beautiful, the central character goes to your heart and the story is moving. I would say, it's the best book I've ever read, I loved it so much I read about half a dozen other Coelho books. None of them come close to this one and other than Fifth Mountain and maybe Down By the River Piedra, I'm not a huge fan of his. But this is the book that made him the hugely successful writer that he is and just for this book he deserves all his success. If you read it thinking it's going to magically change your life then you maybe be disappointed. If you're too arrogant to be preached to then you may be disappointed. But if you read this with an open mind and open heart, you will surely enjoy this heart-warming tale. Within it is a lesson to everyone on following your dreams and how the important thing in life is the journey, not the destination.