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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780062502186 
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Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
"My heart is afraidthat 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 far 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.
The Alchemist is a magical story of Santiago, an Audalusian shepherd boy who travels in search of a worldly treasure. 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.
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About the Author
In 1970, after deciding that law school was not for him, he traveled through much of South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe. Returning to Brazil after two years, he began a successful career as a popular songwriter. In 1974, he was imprisoned for a short time by the military dictatorship then ruling in Brazil. In 1980, he experienced one of the defining moments of his life: he walked the 500-plus-mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. On this ancient highway, used for centuries by pilgrims from France to get to the cathedral said to house the remains of St. James, he achieved a self-awareness and a spiritual awakening that he later described in The Pilgrimage.
Paulo Coelho once said that following your dream is like learning a foreign language; you will make mistakes but you will get there in the end. In 1988, he published The Alchemist, a novel that explores this theme, and it launched him as an international bestselling author. Specifically, Paulo Coelho is recognized for his powerful storytelling technique and the profound spiritual insights he blends seamlessly into his parables. Since then, The Alchemist has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 41 languages. In addition to The Pilgrimage and The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho has written luminous novels about the different streams of our lives, including By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Valkyries, The Fifth Mountain, and Veronika Decides to Die. A winner of numerous literary prizes, Paulo Coelho is also a prominent speaker for humanitarian causes. In 1999, he received a Crystal Award for Artistic Achievement at the Davos Economic Forum Conference.
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Paulo Coelho nació en Brasil y es uno de los autores más leídos internacionalmente. El Alquimista, su libro más famoso, ha vendido mas de 35 millones de copias en todo el mundo y ha sido traducido a cincuenta y cuatro idiomas. Ha recibido destacados premios y menciones internacionales como el Planetary Arts Award, el Crystal Award concedido por el foro Económico Mundial y la prestigiosa distinción Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legión d'Honneur del gobierno francés. Coelho escribe una columna semanal sindicada en el mundo entero. Actualmente, vive en Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 8 comments:
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Shoshana, September 14, 2008 (view all comments by Shoshana)
This is a good example of its genre, well-written and well-executed. I understand this novel as allegorical and related to the search for a form of self-actualization that has a spiritual component. Perhaps I'd have enjoyed a different work by Corlho more, but this was recommended to me over and over. I can say that it is technically proficient, and that if I wanted to read something like this or to recommend it, Coelho does a good job overall. I don't think he does a good job of gender issues; even bearing in mind that the protagonist is male and is intended as an everyman, the female characters are ancillary and stereotypical. In addition, the follow-your-dream message is fine but not explored in terms of potential relational concerns. Relationships with others are encumbrances or, at best, rewards for succeeding in following you bliss--what does this mean for people raising children or taking care of others? Though pursuing the dream is represented as a process, at least in part, it's also represented as finite. The protagonist is in his early 20's when he's done. This seems like a throwback to Kohlberg's stages of development, where moral functionally development stopped by this age. Yes, it's a symbolic representation of the quest. No, it is not sufficient to say that this protagonist as rendered is a sufficient symbolic representation of everyone.
I am left with a Jonathan Livingston Seagull sensation. If that sounds good, or you like popular metaphysics, you'll probably find this book meaningful. If you want to analyze the discrepancies between the philosophies enacted in the text, you probably won't.
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bindiya.fernandez, March 30, 2008 (view all comments by bindiya.fernandez)
For such a little book, this is one that definitely packs a punch. When it comes to inspirational literature, you can't get much better than Paulo Coelho.
This is a book that will teach you about life. A book that will tell you it's okay to pursue your dreams and find yourself lost. That it was better to have tried and floundered than never to have tried at all. A book that will teach you to follow your dreams regardless of the consequences. A book that reminds us that often we give up our most important ones out of the paralyzing fear of failure. A book that remind us that it's not always the destination that counts but it's the road you take to reach there that matters. That everything in life, whether good or bad, is a learning experience. That it is our actions that lead us either to a life of humdrum mediocrity or to the treasure we have always dreamed of.
A book that will teach us to dream again...
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24/7_69, June 5, 2007 (view all comments by 24/7_69)
I had to read this book for class, and it was EXTREMELY boring. Everything was narrorated and there was almost no dialoge. It took me 10 minutes to get through 2 pages, I kept spacing out. It got a little better towards the end, and I really like the ending, but the rest was justttttt DULL
View all 8 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780062502186
- Author:
- Publisher:
- HarperSanFrancisco
- Translator:
- Clarke, Alan R.
- Location:
- San Francisco
- Subject:
- Religious
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Fiction
- Subject:
- Picture books for children
- Subject:
- Fables
- Subject:
- Shepherds
- Subject:
- Alchemists.
- Subject:
- Andalusia
- Copyright:
- 1998
- Edition Description:
- 1st HarperCollins pbk. ed.
- Series:
- Insight
- Series Volume:
- 108-17
- Publication Date:
- 19950510
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 192
- Dimensions:
- 8.16x5.30x.49 in. .33 lbs.
