Overall Rating and Opinion of "The Alchemist"

Kappy · Post by **Kappy** » 22 Jan 2015, 21:28

I loved it! A phrase from The Alchemist, "all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation," and the story about learning "the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world" reminded me of another "wise man" story, an old Parsee legendary story of a grain of wheat. The story was included in The Essene Teachings of Zarathustra, by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely; following is an abridged version of the story:

Once the king of Persia asked the wise man Zarathustra, who lived near the king's palace, to explain the laws of nature and the universe. Zarathustra gave the king a grain of wheat, and said it contained all the laws of the universe and the forces of nature. The king threw the grain to the ground and angrily departed.

After several years of continued success, the king was living a life of luxury, but he was tormented by numerous questions, e.g., Why are the people poor and why do they suffer? Can my power and riches save me from illness and death? How did life begin? Who created God?

Meanwhile, Zarathustra's fame had grown, so the king sent him a great treasure and asked the same question as before. Zarathustra returned the treasure, and sent the king a gift: a grain of wheat wrapped in a leaf. The king was mystified, and put the wheat in a golden box.

After several months of thinking about it, the king could not understand the message of the wheat, so he sent for a great Indian philosopher. After many months, the philosopher finally arrived, saying he came mainly to meet the great Zarathustra.

The king showed the wheat to the Indian philosopher, who meditated on the problem. Finally he said, "This tiny grain of wheat can indeed teach us the laws of the universe ... you must not keep the grain of wheat in its golden box ... you yourself must not stay in this luxurious palace. If you plant this little grain in the earth where it belongs, ... then, like a universe in itself, it will begin to grow .... Likewise, if you would grow in knowledge and understanding, you must leave this artificial palace and go into your garden, where you will be close to all the forces of nature and the universe ... till you become one with nature and the organic universe."

The king and the Indian philosopher then visited Zarathustra so that they might learn from him, and discovered that Zarathustra's only book was the great book of nature....

melbuhtoast · Post by **melbuhtoast** » 23 Jan 2015, 09:21

This book is one that I liked for the message it portrayed, though I did find the simplistic storytelling to be a little boring at times. It is a quick read, though, and once I got used to the writing style, it was actually a great book. I've read a few other of Paolo Coelho's novels, and they all have a similar style.

aaa123 · Post by **aaa123** » 24 Jan 2015, 13:41

This was a fabulous book.

-- 24 Jan 2015, 15:47 --

Fantastic I love this book. I would recommend this book to anyone intereseted in chemistry and alchemy.

Kappy · Post by **Kappy** » 25 Jan 2015, 12:16

A line from one of John Lennon's songs describes The Alchemist quite well:

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

It is from the song "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," from Lennon's last album, and featured prominently in the wonderful film, "Mr. Holland's Opus."

Those of you who didn't like the book sound like you are quite young. I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as a teenager, especially as a forced reading assignment. But if you are young and didn't like the book, you may want to revisit it again after 10 or 20 years; I think you will then have a different opinion of it.

Femmeforce · Post by **Femmeforce** » 25 Jan 2015, 13:00

I love this book. Essential in my opinion.

castor · Post by **castor** » 29 Jan 2015, 02:41

Himmelslicht wrote:
zoedecicco wrote:I have now given this book up. Life is too short to read something you're just not that into.
I should have done that as well.
Well, at least it's read anyway.

Thanks, you saved me from reading it

"The Alchemist" is one of the books that will not ever read. Especially the quote "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it" repels me from reading it. But after reading the comments in here i thought that I was so wrong!. At least there are some who support my decision.

Kappy · Post by **Kappy** » 29 Jan 2015, 21:30

In The Alchemist, an old man claims the world's greatest lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what happens to us. But there is a grain of truth to this. The late, great Nobel Laureate scientist, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, in his book The Crazy Ape, summarizes some harsh truths of animal behavior: an animal brain is relatively malleable during youth, but "freezes up" later, making it "increasingly unable to assimilate new ideas." In dogs, for example, this generally occurs after six months; in humans, it typically occurs when you are 30-40 years old.

As Szent-Gyorgyi describes it, knowledge gained after "brain freeze" is book-knowledge only; it doesn't get into your blood, and doesn't become part of your being.

I'm sure you have heard people say they are set in their ways, and can't change. It's true!

exquisitelyL · Post by **exquisitelyL** » 29 Jan 2015, 21:48

I never read this book but I have it on my tablet. Do you guys recommend it?

angelbeats1 · Post by **angelbeats1** » 03 Feb 2015, 23:40

It was a great read, but I'm not sure if I could read it a second time without getting incredibly bored.

olyazhuk · Post by **olyazhuk** » 09 Feb 2015, 12:06

Wonderful book. I recommend it to anyone because it is a classic and very interesting book that captures your attention.

mangitangi · Post by **mangitangi** » 13 Feb 2015, 06:04

Great book but the english translation I read was awful

debo9967 · Post by **debo9967** » 15 Feb 2015, 21:57

I read the book long time back. The book had me totally wrapped in a different dimension and reading the book was a magical experience.

Alexavier-Taiga · Post by **Alexavier-Taiga** » 16 Feb 2015, 15:31

Not too long ago a boy in my Advanced Literiture class did a book review/oral presentation of this book, and I'm not sure if it's because he didn't prepare (which was very obvious) or that he was nervouse, but he made the book sound really bad, like really incredibly horrible, something that I would never want to see on a bookshelf, let alone pick it up and read it.

But concise ring it was chosen to be a 'book of the month' maybe I should give it a go

Duende Knocking · Post by **Duende Knocking** » 16 Feb 2015, 21:48

I felt like this book was very...over-rated, and it ended up coming across as a bit preachy (the hype around it doesn't help).

It was okay. I'd give it a 2.5/4, but I wouldn't give it a second read nor would I be quick to suggest it to others.

donaldwolford · Post by **donaldwolford** » 18 Feb 2015, 19:31

I read this a while back but I really liked it. The writing is engaging and easy to read. I like how Coelho emphasizes the importance of following your dream without being too schmaltzy.