I'm sure there was a message hidden in this book somewhere that went completely over my head. Oops! And I very much enjoyed the fairytale style in which it's written.

Homework for "Introductory Course For Irony Disposal And Sarcasm Removal (ICFIDASR)", lesson one, re-submission number 47.

I once read a book that inspired me to change my whole attitude towards reading. It was a medicine of universal, cosmic impact. Before, I had thought that books existed to enrich me, giving me knowledge, pleasure and understanding.

After reading the introductory pages of this "enchanting novel" however, I learned that more wisdom can be gained from the companionship of sheep than from books, as stated by the wise young protagonist, a shepherd who uses books for a pillow and sheep for dialogue partners (it is a one-way road, with the sheep as teachers, for the sheep don't learn anything from him). In simple, unsophisticated prose, which seems to be carefully following the rubric of a Grade 6 descriptive writing assignment, I read:

"The only things that concerned the sheep were food and water. As long as the boy knew how to find the best pastures in Andalusia, they would be his friends. Yes, their days were all the same, with the seemingly endless hours between sunrise and dusk; and they had never read a book in their young lives, and didn't understand when the boy told them about the sights of the cities. They were content with just food and water, and, in exchange, they generously gave of their wool, their company, and - once in a while - their meat."

Learning to take everything literally is part of my course, so I try not to see a metaphor in the fact that the boy learns more from sheep than from books. But I do have a question or two:

If the sheep are only his"friends" as long as he brings them food, do they really count as friends? Are they not just following their needs?

Is it not quite self-evident that they have not read any books in their young lives - they are sheep after all, and won't read in their old age either, I assume?

Do they really "generously offer their wool, their company, and -ONCE IN A WHILE - their meat? At least as far as the meat is concerned, I am sure they offer it once, and not again, and not by free choice, and generously?

As this book is to be taken seriously, I beg to accept my apology if my questions sound like sarcasm. That is not my intention. I am really just asking "all universe to conspire to help me achieve my goal" (another piece of wisdom the book offers) - of understanding how anyone can take this seriously! I just wonder how all universe deals with opposing wishes, which must occasionally occur, even in a small place like our earth. If I for example wish to have my neighbour's garden chair, and my neighbour wishes to keep it, who does "all universe" side with, and how does it conspire to help me get it, and at the same time to help my neighbour to keep it?

Things that happen once can never happen again, I also learn. Before I can even ask why, I get another piece of information: Things that happen twice will always happen again. How does that go together? If things have happened once (which is a prerequisite for happening twice in my world) they won't happen again?!? Whatever is meant, things can NEVER happen twice, that is sure. I can't travel to Italy twice. If I do it anyway (which is not possible) I will definitively do it again. That is nice!

When I do travel to Italy (once, or three times), my life and my path will always provide me with enough omens. That is interesting, and I do not know why I all of a sudden associate this with the sheepish followers in Life Of Brian, who found omens in sandals.

Call me literal-minded, but I do have some issues with the idea of omen provision. Can I order them online nowadays? What do they cost?

To close my reflection on learning more from sheep than books, I have to say: In some cases, that is very true! What a bitter medicine!

As with all medicines, there are some side effects, and it is very important to read the warning before you take this drug:

Please do not read this book if you are in danger of thinking too rationally.

When you read this Grade 6 essay, be careful to check if you show behaviours that you would define as out of character, as they might be symptoms of acute drivel reading allergy.

Symptoms include: anger, frustration, ridicule, frowning, nausea, meaningless giggling, dreams about book burning, urge to throw the book in the bin or out the window. Symptoms may vary, but in all cases, it is recommended to suspend reading until the brain is reset in adequate sheep mode again.

If symptoms do not diminish after enjoying a couple of good, real books, please see your librarian for memory removal surgery or therapy.

إن كل رجل سعيد كان هو ذاك الذي اعتنق الله في داخله
وأنه يمكن للسعادة أن تكون موجودة في حبة رمل بسيطة في الصحراء
لأن حبة الرمل هي لحظة من عملية الخلق
وأن الكون قد كرّس ملايين وملايين السنين في خلقها


إنّني أخاف إذا حقّقت حُلمي
ألّا يتبقّى لي بعد ذلك سبب للعيش



يوجد شخص ينتظر شخصاً آخر
سواء أكان هذا في وسط الصحراء
أو في قلب المدن الكبرى
وعندما يلتقي هؤلاء الشخصان
وتتقاطع نظرتاهما
فإن الماضي والمستقبل لا أهميةلهما
ولحظة الحاضر وحدها هي التي تبقى

I give this book two stars instead of one because I live by a lot of the messages Paulo Coelho puts forth in The Alchemist. I identify with the themes of prioritizing values over fear, pursuing your personal myth, and savoring every moment instead of getting lost in the past or the future. But I could not invest myself the prose or the story of The Alchemist. Coelo's simple writing makes this book a quick, easy read. It also drains the life out of the book, rendering it an allegory with little emotional impact. While one might expect fiction to combine deeper messages with quality storytelling, Santiago's flatness as a character and the one-dimensional world of The Alchemist did not come close to touching my heart. You can get all of the insight of this book and more, as well as ways to apply such knowledge, from wonderful self-help books like n  Self Compassionn by Kristin Neff and n  Daring Greatlyn by Brene Brown.

Also, I detested the portrayal of romantic love and women in this book. Santiago falls in "love" with Fatima just by looking at her (he did the same with another character earlier in the story and she just disappeared without a trace.) And when Santiago leaves Fatima to pursue his journey, Coehlo turns her into a lovesick girl with no interests, desires, or passions other than waiting for Santiago's return. She serves as his romantic interest and nothing more. Their relationship had no substance, and Fatima, as the main female character of the story, deserved so much more development (i.e., any development at all).

Overall, I feel glad that The Alchemist can inspire introspection and conversation about deeper life issues like the journey to personal fulfillment and how to thrive in the face of fear. My little cousin, who I love, wrote a stellar essay about this book. The Alchemist, to my great disappointment, just did not work for me.

A boy has a dream ... after leaving the seminary, Santiago becomes a shepherd. He likes to travel and does in the Andalusian region of Spain, with his sixty sheep. In an unstated era but feels like circa 1900. Roaming the countryside, visiting small villages, selling wool when money is needed. Always moving in search of food and water, for his little friends, their hunger and thirst is all, to them. Becoming an expert in his profession, but time passes by, the youth is now 18 . Resting in an abandoned church with his animals, looking through a hole in the roof, at the night sky and having an eerie dream. About finding treasure under the pyramids, in Egypt, a silly notion, but has it again. He forgets it, and goes back to work. Two years is an eternity on the road, for a boy and he feels lonely, until meeting a merchant's daughter. She can't believe that a lowly shepherd is reading a book ...After selling her father wool, he must continue his wanderings, the sheep need nourishment, but the girl is always on his mind. A woman, that he doesn't even know her name. Next year he'll be back there. Sleeping outdoors under the stars and moon, with his sheep, having no worries, going to new places , making camp fires, and eating surrounded by amiable companions, this is a good life. The boy is happy, but sees a gypsy woman, who tells him to trust in his omens , he is not convinced. One day in a town on the coast , where you can see Africa, a short distance away across the water, he meets an old, strange man, who claims to be the King of Salem! Tells him he should pursue his dream ,"Personal Legend"... Sells the sheep, takes a ship to Tangier, Africa, loses his money , and works in a crystal shop for an Arab, who's aspiration, is to visit Mecca but never will . And finally makes enough money to depart. Becoming friends with an Englishman, who is fascinated by his own alchemy books, and concludes that lead can be turned into gold... Taking a perilous trip, on camels they bought, in a large, slow moving caravan , for a desert oasis, right out of an Arabian Nights tale, the yellow sand, the glorious blue sky, and remorseless wind, the unceasing red sun, and a frightening tribal war close by, grinds them to despair ... But still the Englishman, thinks about an alchemist, 200 years old, living in that exotic, Egyptian oasis, their hopeful destination, and wanting to learn the magician 's secrets, only a short, few days , from the pyramids, too. Spotting at last, their goal, the caravan sees the distinct green palm trees , some of the thousands, full of dates , nearby, the endless journey has come to an end ... A fools trip or a voyage of discovery? But remember, watch for the hawks ...

n  I, Hegeln


I, Hegel, wrote an essay today
Comparing Jesus
And his disciples,
With Socrates,
And his.
Jesus emerges from my comparison
As decidedly the inferior teacher
Of ethics.
What does that say
About my Religion?


I, Hegel, had a dream today
In which Napoleon
Was offered
One of two paths
In a cold subterranean dungeon:
One of which led to untold riches
And the other to a lost work of Aristotle.
He took the first
Without hesitation.
What does that say
About my Hero?


I, Hegel, went on a walk today
When I heard
Two villagers arguing
About metaphysics,
And epistemology:
They talked of Jesus and of Zeus,
Of Mary and of Vampires!
But not a word was told of Kant,
Yet they reached (and easily)
The very same conclusions!
What does that say
About my Teacher?

A delightful, quick dose of motivational self-help, The Alchemist is full of feel-good life lessons wrapped in a parable-like story from a well-meaning, slightly overenthusiastic guru. Perfect for when you need an uplifting pep talk.

In her review, Ioana wrote:

...."The language is quite simple, which can be beautiful (read: Herman Hesse); however it comes off as quite redundant and sermonic. Every other sentence contains at least one reference to either "The Soul of the World", or "The Personal Legend", or "Follow Your Heart" with a big fat capital H. By the end of the novel I am skimming most passages.

The characters are flat (I didn't really "feel" them, what they were going through, and there was no character development), and the storyline resembled that of a children's folktale (I like folktales).

Overall, it was a worthwhile read given that it only took a couple hours, presented some interesting ideas (albeit, without illustrating any of them satisfactorily), and removed me to the Spanish countryside/Arabian desert for a bit (I am a sucker for folktales, and if this book is nothing else, it would make a lovely illustrated children's book)."

I think this sums up in a few words what the book is about. Simple. Feel Good. Motivational. Folktale.

It also brings many of the baggage of those themes with that. Certainly it at times does appear to be able to reach deep within people like Corie whom said in her review:

"If you are looking for a nice meaty book filled with twists, turns and life-like characters - this is NOT your book. Wait until you are more in a more introspective mood. Coelho's prose is simplistic and at times childish. And the read is easy - I finished in around an hour and a half I suppose. But the meanings left scattered throughout the chapters are intense and authentic. Omens and signs - all around us, the universe directing us and helping us, wanting us to succeed. All we have to do is be aware - to listen. "

and Micha does add a good point against it:

"Let me only point to the fact that there is now an “Illustrated Alchemist” version of the book. If ones personally philosophy can be illustrated as a comic book then perhaps it is a tad bit on the simple side. "

Despite all this I would have to disagree with April's comments in Eleanor's review:

"This book is intended for people with passion and drive. Its not just a novel - for entertainment reading. The story is simple - exactly! thats the beauty of the book - its simplicity. But with that simplicity is a complex philosophy that you obviously don't get because you took the story literally."

The book I would say caters to people with depression and lack of drive more than it inspires. Deep down, I felt I was reading for entertainment and that's why it came off as complex to me because deep down the protagonist is a Mary Sue and that's why it caters to me because like a Mary Sue done well, it tries to connect the reader who is apathetic or hopeless or depressed and tries to show them that maybe there is something out there just worth grasping for and yet I get a feeling that people who do grasp for the message in the Alchemist will find that the book isn't deep at all and certainly many of the other reviews properly represent that.

That's why I rated it as amazing. It's just one of those books that no one can really tell someone how bad it is until the reader actually finds out for himself and I doubt those who have read many books will find it astounding it all but not everyone reads a tons of books and for what it's worth, I think a book that can attach itself and inspire someone to read further deserves no less a rating than amazing.

The Alchemist is simply that kind of book that manages to do so by being short enough, shallow enough, deep enough and hyped enough to cater to a generation of casual readers.

Everyone (save one guy) said I would love this book. Three of my four roommates have their own copies. That one guy was right. Now this may be because he planted that seed of discontent, or it may be because this was the least creative and most redundant book I've read in a while. It answered the question, what happens when you put The Hero With a Thousand Faces, The Bible and 1001 Arabian Nights in a blender? That said, I didn't hate it. Two of the central themes (which were hammered in over and over again) are two of my favorite world views - ones I hold very dear to my heart. I understand that everyone has their own path and if it takes this silly little book to realize these two important messages, I'm just happy the reader finally discovered these truths. A) As the far more prolific writer Joseph Campbell says, Follow Your Bliss and B) As the far more prolific writer Ralph Waldo Emerson says, Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. (See the pattern.) To explain my aversion to the third nail in the coffin of stolen redundancy, I will tell you story. I have a small collection of fortunes from fortune cookies. (I have always been in the habit of collecting good omens.) To make the list, a fortune must convey a good message when applied to life and even better when the requisite "Dirty Fortune Cookie Ending" is added. During my freshman year of college, I got the fortune "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also . . . . . between the sheets." Hilarious, right?! Sex, love, treasure, oh the glorious metaphors. Fast forward two years, when I discover that my hilarious fortune is actually A BIBLICAL QUOTE! Straight out the OT. Well, I was shocked and appalled. I was being proselytized to by a cookie! Now, I realize that this is my own issue, but I don't want a bible-thumping cookie or 200 year old Alchemist ramming the OT down my throat. To anyone thinking about reading this book, I have given you the two things that need be learned from it. Now go read some Joseph Campbell.

ORIGINAL REVIEW REMOVED (by me) 10/23/23
_________________________________

The review I wrote of this book and posted on Jun 16, 2010 has, as of today earned 4,264 likes and has a comment thread of 50 pages. Based on this activity, it is the first review shown of the more than 114,000+ reviews on this site.

I regularly get friend requests based solely on this review and likes and comments are added almost daily.

I would like to take some pride in that, but I really don't. This review is (was) an anomaly in terms of the kinds of books I generally read and the kinds of reviews I generally write. For that reason, I don't accept friend requests from people who've extended them based solely on reading this review.

Back in 2010, goodreads was in its infancy. It had not yet instituted some really questionable content policies which we later learned were part of the lead-up to the site's purchase by amazon in 2013. It had not yet leveraged our freely-given, user-generated content – products of our passion for books and for talking about them with others – for a higher valuation in the M&A game. The technology and user experience was, if not smooth, idiosyncratically, almost charmingly, glitchy. Now, it's beyond broken, beyond frustrating, and clearly beyond repair (or anyone caring to invest in it).

Back then, in the pre-amazon days, the culture of reading, reviewing, and interacting was freer, more generous, and wayyyyyyyyy less serious. Satirical reviews were not just tolerated, they were encouraged. People recognized and weren't threatened by irony (which, ironically, was one of my beefs with this book: its zealous humourlessness combined with vapid, too-earnest, moralizing).

Some of my favourites of these types of reviews are "Jason's" single-line 2009 review of The Road and Paul Bryant's 2010 send-up of Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. But there were so many, and apologies to all those still here and active who have written them.

In the early days of goodreads there was plenty of room for fanciful, wildly creative, hilarious reviews that were not reviews but instigations to playful and joyous banter about books and engagement with playful and joyous readers.

I mourn the demise of the goodreads I once loved. This review, and the daily notifications I get telling me that people have read it, are sad reminders of what – and who – has been lost.

I really disliked this book. I dislike it in the way that I dislike a great deal of modern self help books. Their basic message is that 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.
I disagree with this notion, not only because it is false, but because it is bad.
Just because we desire something, does not make it good. This idea of 'following your heart' is often wrong. Who are we to be the arbiters of truth? Why should our hearts be sources of information that go beyond logic, doubt and reasoning? Haven't we all desired things that have turned out to not be in our best interest, or to be harmful to others? Andrew Jackson was a man known to have a lot of integrity. He was always 'true' to himself and followed his heart. Andrew Jackson is the man who initiated the 'Trail of Tears'. Moving Native Americans from their homes and into reservations.
Next, this idea of not letting ourselves doubt or consider doubts. This is a terrible and dishonest way to live. If we don't consider doubts, and entertain them often, then we are deliberately blinding ourselves. Deliberately making ourselves ignorant. If someone doesn't give serious consideration to the idea that they may be wrong. Give serious thought to why they believe what they do, and that perhaps those who doubt them may be correct, then they are behaving in a dangerous and dishonest way.
Not giving heed to the concerns doubts and criticisms of others is something I believe is a major fault in modern society. Often, people fail to recognize the needs of the group and the community. We place so much emphasis on the needs and rights of the individual. This causes people to focus so much on themselves to the detriment of others around them. At times, it can be beneficial to go against the group, but one should first give serious consideration to the groups concerns.

According to Ideas like the Alchemist, groups like, the Westboro Baptist Church,(godhatesfags.com) should be seen as American heroes. These are people who take a totally irrational stance, and stick to it as hard as they can in complete defiance to the views of everyone around them.

Δεν θα σας πω ψέματα. Όταν το είχα διαβάσει (στα 13-14) με συνεπήρε. Μετά ήρθε η ζωή.