Book recommendation for February 2025: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I suspect most of you have heard of the global phenomenon that is, The Alchemist, as it’s sold like 65 million copies or something. If you’ve not, then you are in for a treat.
What it’s about: Santiago is a young shepherd in Andalucia who feels there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life-changing.
Why I love it: I think of this as a dreamer’s book and for anyone who has a dream, read this and feel inspired. Paulo Coelho has a wonderful way with words, an easy style that it is so evocative and moving, mixing spirituality with wisdom. This book will speak to different people in different ways, it will make you remember dreams you’ve long buried and dismissed, and compare yourself to Santiago and ask, “why am I not following my personal calling?” It was around the time I read The Alchemist that I plucked up the courage / stamped down my self doubt and told my wife that I dreamt of being a writer (at that point, I was about to start training to be a lawyer). It is simply one of the most powerful, moving, and life-affirming stories I have read. And as I write this post, I think I’m going to go and reread it.
Beyond the book: My wife and I came across this book while we were backpacking across Australia. At the time, we were renting a room in Sydney and were completely skint and starving. We’d spent most of our life savings staying afloat while seeing the world but had been unable to find jobs to keep us going. We were down to living off a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a single slice of toast with Vegemite for lunch, and sharing a $1 (AUD) instant pasta sachet between us for dinner. Then, one afternoon, we found a dog-eared copy of The Alchemist in the house and took turns reading it, powering through it in less than a day. Both of us immediately fell in love with it. Like Santiago, we’d also left home to follow our dreams of adventure and a better life Down Under and the story immediately resonated with us. It helped us see the value in our experience, even though we were facing the reality of our dreams not panning out, and realised that sometimes what you learn in pushing yourself is more important than achieving what you think you want. As with Frankenstein, The Alchemist was also one of the table names at our wedding!
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