The Alchemist

Summer is all about having fun under the sun since school days is over. But what if you’re bored or you want to just stay at home instead? And you’re tired of watching TVs, DVDs, etc! Well I suggest you to read a book. I know that reading a book is boring sometimes but hey, it could be fun too!

Here’s a book I would like to recommend. It’s entitled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I’ve never read this though. It’s so sarcastic isn’t it? I’m recommending it and yet I haven’t read it. I heard that this book is really good…eye-opener.

Santiago is a shepherd living in Andalusia. He has a dream telling him to go to the pyramids, and that he will find treasure there. When he consults a gypsy about it, she tells him to go to the pyramids in exchange for 1/10th of his treasure, discouraging him. All of a sudden, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, appears and helps motivate Santiago along to his "Personal Legend," which is apparently finding the treasure. He gives the boy Umim and Thummim, black and white stones used for divination, in case he has trouble interpreting omens. Santiago promptly sells everything he has and goes to Africa, where a thief quickly steals all his money. Santiago works in a crystal merchant's shop for a year or so, learns Arabic and about life in general, and moves on. He meets an Englishman who is searching for an Alchemist at the Al-Fayoum oasis. They join together on their journeys east and exchange ideas. Once at the oasis, Santiago meets the love of his life, Fatima, at a well while asking about the alchemist. After preventing an attack on the oasis by reading omens, he is sent to the alchemist and continues his journey. The alchemist teaches him how to transform himself into the wind when they are captured by a desert tribe, and the tribe is so impressed that they let the two go. The alchemist does alchemy with the philosopher's stone, and makes lead into gold. He leaves some at a monastery for a monk and the boy, takes some for himself, and gives some to the boy. When the boy finally reaches the pyramids, he is attacked by desert people, and has to admit that he is searching for a treasure in the desert. One of them laughs and tells him that he once had a dream about finding treasure in the church where Santiago first had the dream. Santiago goes back to it, gets the treasure, and decides to go back to Fatima.

Check this book for yourself and discover something…a treasure maybe!