The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition

· Harper Collins
4.5
3.46K reviews
Ebook
208
Pages

About this ebook

"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.

Ratings and reviews

4.5
3.46K reviews
A Google user
October 19, 2009
My book group was unanimous - this is one of the worst books we've read. Shallow, trite, with syrupy and meaningless messages about following your dream. The "message" makes no sense: on one page the author says that people don't follow their dreams because to do so is so painful, and on the next he says nobody has every experienced pain in search of a dream. It's nonsense. Save your money.
A Google user
The theme of the Alchemist can be said is," Never give up", or " Follow your dreams". The Alchemist is a very inspirational book which seems to change my own personal opinion of it every time i read it. Paulo Coehlo did an extremely good job of transporting the reader into the story. His use of metaphors and imagery really does captivate the read and forces the readers imagination to become engaged. The only downfall of the book is that its a very short story. the charcters are not as dvelppoed as they could be and this leaves the reader with a sense of unfulfilled want to know more. All in all, however, The Alchemist is definitley a must read. It might just inspire you to do something youve never dreamt of doing.
A Google user
September 20, 2010
This book was located in my local bookstore's self help section. These are not books I generally read, however, a friend had recommended I try this one out. I thought all the possible permutations for the "you will find what you're seeking closest to home" ideas had been played out over the centuries of writers. But Coelho has brought a whole new and modern aspect to this age old story. Just goes to show, there may only be 26 letters but there's an infinite amount of ways to assemble them. Excellent book! The moral of the sotry will remain with me ofr years, if not forever.

About the author

Paulo Coelho, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, is one of the bestselling and most influential authors in the world. The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage, The Valkyries, Brida, Veronika Decides to Die, Eleven Minutes, The Zahir, The Witch of Portobello, The Winner Stands Alone, Aleph, Manuscript Found in Accra, and Adultery, among others, have sold 150 million copies worldwide.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.