The Alchemist

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Over the weekend I picked up The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian author described on the back cover as "One of the bestselling and most influential authors in the world." The blurb names 8 books which he has published "and others have sold more than 65 Million copies in 150 countries and have been translated into 60 languages."

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I have had a hard time putting the book down and am already half way through. It is a simple tale of a shepherd boy who sets out in the world to find his goal in life, his personal legend. Along the way he meets a variety of people who impart wisdom to him.

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It is extraordinarily rich in such wisdom from the boy himself and others. One quotation may whet your appetite: "intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there."

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I will write more when I have finished, and I intend to start again at the beginning when I have come to the end. I keep feeling there is even more here than I can appreciate in a single reading.

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His spirit and philosophy remind me of Kahlil Gibran, the poet from Lebanon, author of The Prophet, Jesus Son of Man and others.

Do I have any readers who are currently reading or have read this volume? Love to receive your comments.