The Alchemist
Some people live for their lives in relative comfort and conformity. They soon forget that they too had dreams, and their lives become controlled by fate. But there are a few who follow their dreams to the bitter ends with courage and conviction. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a modern fable about realizing your dreams. It tells the story of Santiago, a shepherd boy who ventures out across unforgiving sands of the Sahara in search of the treasure that appears to him in his dreams. The boy is adventurous by nature and has opted to be a shepherd to see the world. In a recurring dream, he sees a treasure somewhere near a pyramid. He meets a gypsie woman, an interpreter of dreams, and she confirms that there indeed is a treasure near the pyramid. An old king speaks to him about the soul of the world and that “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. The book can be read at multiple levels. Each reader would extract his or her own meanin...