The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
View on GoodreadsPaulo Coelho's 1988 allegorical novel — Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd, journeys to Egypt in pursuit of treasure revealed in a recurring dream, and finds along the way the philosophy of "Personal Legend" that the book has spent four decades disseminating.
Core ideas
- The "Personal Legend" thesis — each person has a destiny they sense but rarely follow, and the universe conspires to help those who do — is the book's organizing claim and the source of both its devotees and its critics.
- The story is intentionally simple — fable-shaped rather than novel-shaped — and the philosophical content is delivered through aphorisms that have entered popular vocabulary ("when you want something, all the universe conspires...").
- The book has sold over 150 million copies in 80 languages, which is itself part of the story; it's one of the most-read books of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and its influence on the broader self-help and spiritual genres is hard to overstate.
Published1988
Pages182
ISBN9780062315007
ReadJan 2020
