Reviews elsewhere on the web:

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho has been read by over 30 million people, many of whom have claimed that it has been a life changing experience.

The Spanish shepherd boy Santiago (actually he's in his late teens) has a dream of treasure near the Pyramids. Should he believe his dream? He meets a man who gives him the advice that when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Strangely similar to a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Now I read somewhere that Emerson deserved to be shot for his quote about mousetraps, and this advice didn't seem very helpful either. Santiago sells his flock and starts a journey to Egypt, but soon all his money is stolen - hardly things conspiring in his favour. He has to try to earn enough to restart a flock.

But does Santiago ever find his treasure by the Pyramids? You'll need to read the book to find out. The point the book does make is that if you really want to do something but don't, then you'll live to regret it - much more than if you go ahead but run into problems. A lesson you can learn from other books perhaps, but Coelho's enchanting fable is still well worth reading.

Amazon.com info

Paperback 208 pages
ISBN: 0061122416
Salesrank: 105
Weight:0.5 lbs

Published: 2006 HarperCollins

Amazon price $8.24

Marketplace:New from $7.09:Used from $1.92

Buy from Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 224 pages
ISBN: 0722532938
Salesrank: 279
Weight:0.49 lbs

Published: 2012 HarperCollins

Amazon price £4.79

Marketplace:New from £2.65:Used from £0.01

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca info

Paperback 208 pages
ISBN: 0061122416
Salesrank: 139
Weight:0.5 lbs

Published: 2006 Harperone

Amazon price CDN$ 12.26

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 6.50:Used from CDN$ 4.72

Buy from Amazon.ca

Product Description
"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." 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. 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.

Product Description

"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."

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.

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.