“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

The Alchemist is a quintessential read and a must-have addition to anyone’s library. I always suggest this book to people who need guidance or are struggling mentally and/or spiritually and want to make sense of their nonsensical minds. This book consistently outdoes itself as each page scurries on by delivering universal law in the most abounding philosophical ways through the grandest communication: storytelling.

The Alchemist is about a young shepherd boy named Santiago, referred to as “the boy,” on a mission to find his Personal Legend. He longs to get to the Egyptian Pyramids to find a treasure that he had so vividly seen in a dream of his. The boy meets an Old King who gives him two stones: Urim and Thummim. These stones are meant to be two omens that show him signs to guide his journey. The boy decides to sell his sheep and leave his shepherding life behind in search of this treasure, and that is essentially where the book takes off. The remainder of the book details his journey through a desert, the people, places, and things he sees and meets, and how every matter in the universe conspires to assist him in living out his Personal Legend.

The book describes one’s Personal Legend as the idea that all individuals should live in the pursuit of their dreams regardless of fear and attachment to material things. Should one pursue their true Personal Legend, then no matter what, the universe will always conspire to allow achievement in that ultimate goal by using the Soul of the World to guide them via omens. Omens are part of the universal language of the world and it is used to refer to undeniable signs sent by the universe to guide our decision-making. Inevitably the boy heeds his omens and meets a true alchemist that assists him in garnering his own legend. 

Alchemists are highly revered and sought-after persons because they understand the ways to achieve Personal Legends through their practice of alchemy. Alchemy is the practice of turning base metal into gold by heating it until it rids itself of all impurities. Then the metal will reach a higher evolutionary state. The practice of Alchemy parallels Santiago’s journey as he has to learn to let go of his attachments and be able to channel the soul of the world in order to achieve his Personal Legend. 

Coelho does a great job of using a fictional story base to relay non-fictional morals and values. The Alchemist teaches ideologies such as the union of all aspects of nature, the rejection of fear, and the acceptance of destiny amongst a plethora of other things. It is loaded with notable motifs, relatable symbolism, and quotable life lessons that never age or defile over time. If you read the book once, you will definitely find yourself needing to indulge again as I so often do whenever I feel off track from my own Personal Legend. Overall I would give this book a 10/10 for light density, easy comprehension, narrative writing style, and sweeping enjoyment.