The Alchemist review

The Alchemist a book by Paulo Coelho is a must read for anyone going through a life challenge. We follow the story of a young Shepard. Who travels through the cities and deserts of northern Africa, in search of treasure. Along the story the main character Santiago meets several strange characters. He meets a gypsy a king disguised as an old man, he later meets a crystal merchant a British scholar and an alchemist to name a few. He also faces an array of challenges along the way. Each challenge he faces and resolves brings a life lesson to the reader. The life lessons learned here can be applied immediately to ones life. Reading this book is like talking to a psychologist. You learn several coping techniques you especially learn to be mindful and live life by the second.

Most shocking to me was the part of this book involving the British scholar. At this point in the story Santiago meets a Englishman who is in search of an alchemist. The Englishman feverishly tries to find a way to turn metals into gold. He reads countless books and learns almost all that is written about alchemy but he still fails. This hit me and ironically made me realize that there are things in life that cant be learned from just reading. The English man toiled all his life with books,but he missed life's lessons. I realized that you have to be aware and open minded. It's great to read and learn from academic sources, but when like the Englishman  rely on one source of information you end up being ignorant and you miss out on other great  baskets of information.

I like the book and i believe it conveys many heartfelt messages.  Great books  often times are books that you can relate to, and i certainly can relate to the characters in this book. The book was not overly complex and the chain of events developed quickly. Many other books have overly complex plots and drag over volumes. What i really liked about the book was that it reassured me that I and 6 billion other people in this world will face hard times, but to my joy  and their joy we will all get through those hard moments in life. The only complaint i have after reading this book was that the ending did not offer complete closure. There are parts that ended but are left to speculation. We can assume at the end that Santiago and Fatima will marry but we can only assume. I really wish the book elaborated more on this. Finally i wish the book  at some point at the end involved the king that convinced Santiago to start his journey.

I would recommend this book specifically to any young person starting out in life. You will learn a lot about life from this simple book.  This book is great for that first semester student at bunker hill, dealing with a life challenge. I can go as far as to calling this book a fable because many morals are learned here. I recommend this book because you will learn Mindfulness you will learn that every life legend that was worth something had many challenges along the way. The Alchemist can also be read by any person regardless of age who needs to be reassured that the troubles of today signal the success of tomorrow.

He traveled from the green Andalusian fields

Brave he was
The boy who dreamed of treasure
Traveled the  world
he stumbled upon the warm sands of Africa he
was a crystal merchant

he was a Sheppard
he was a teacher
only this boy could understand the soul of the world
for he spoke without words
in search of the pyramids he went
along the way he found danger in dunes
but nothing could stop him
for he realized his personal legend
he spoke to the world and unleashed a symphony
a symphony that taught us
"when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 
he unleashed the power of his heart
and from then on
The world knew of a brave boy named Santiago