Extended Summary Of The Alchemist - By Paulo Coelho

ABOUT THE ORIGINAL BOOKIt is a novel woven around a deeply human story, which exposes the transformative power of dreams, the importance of listening to your heart, and understanding messages that are not transmitted through words.It follows the adventures of Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd, who embarks on a journey through the desert in search of a treasure. The reader travels through a world populated by signs and dreams, in which he suffers moments of sadness with the character. The reader is happy for his achievements, is enthusiastic about the search for the fundamental stone, and finally discovers that love is the true transforming force. With that said, he discovers the soul of the world.Why read this fiction book? Because this book is entertaining and simple. It allows an existential vision that invites reflection, and the message that is presented is that when one wants something with great intensity, the whole Universe conspires to make this desire a reality. The lessons Santiago learns in the story, will become lessons for the reader in their own life.INTRODUCTIONThe Alchemist is a symbolic book, and so it must be read. Alchemy was a discipline that interested Coelho, who was attracted to the mystical idea of turning metals into gold, or of finding the Philosopher's Stone and with it the Elixir of Eternal Life. He read all existing literature about alchemy, met with alchemists, and started some practices, but the results were invalid, so he abandoned all mystic practice for a while.In 1981, he met RAM (Regnus, Agnus, Mundi), a hidden Catholic order, and from them he became familiar with Christian language and symbology, which he then overturned in the book that is being discussed.One day, in a conversation with a RAM Master, Paulo asked why the language of Alchemy was so complicated and vague. The answer he received was burned into his spirit: because the language of Alchemy is a language addressed to the heart and not to the mind. He later understood that many people who had never even heard of Alchemy managed to discover the Philosopher's Stone in their lives.That was the basis of The Alchemist, which contains what the author learned from the symbology, and which also aims to be a tribute to those who managed to attain the Universal Language: Hemingway, Blake, Borges, and Malba Tahan, among others.ABOUT PAULO COELHO: AUTHOR OF THE ORIGINAL BOOKPaulo Coelho de Souza is a Brazilian novelist, playwright, and lyricist born in 1947. His books are some of the most widely read in the world, with more than 200 million copies sold in 150 countries and translated into 81 languages.He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and has received outstanding international awards.A narrator, journalist, and screenwriter of television, he is a multifaceted humanist. Son of a wealthy family, Paulo Coelho received a good education that included law school, but his early literary vocation led him to devote himself completely to writing and any other activity that would allow him to be in direct contact with the creation of literature.Besides The Alchemist, Coelho has authored other works that have received unanimous universal recognition, among which are The Pilgrimage, Brida, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Supreme Gift, Eleven minutes.