martes, 13 de noviembre de 2007

THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ.

I didn’t like read books about stories when I was in the high school and later in the College, I just read scientific books, related to my career, but when I finished the studies I had a lot of free time and I decided to read some books that my sister had.

During this new hobby I could read some excellent books but the best to me was “The Alchemist” from Paulo Coelho. The book tells us the story about a young man called Santiago. With this symbolic masterpiece Coelho tells us that we should not avoid our destinies, and urges people to follow their dreams, because to find our "Personal Myth" and our mission on Earth is the way to find "God", meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.
"The Alchemist" is the kind of novel that tells you that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen. Coelho tells us "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them”.



Next, I’m going to show you a little biography of Coelho that I could find in Internet:

Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of Pedro Queima de Souza an engineer, and his wife, Lygia a homemaker. His middle-class parents didn't share his dream of an artistic career. When he was 17 his father had him committed to a mental institution where he endured electroshock therapy, even when he got involved with a theatre group and started work as a journalist, they had him recommitted once more.

He sought spiritual experiences travelling throughout Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, as well as Europe and North Africa. Later he launched an alternative magazine called 2001. After joining the Alternative Society and publishing a series of comic strips about freedom, he was imprisoned and later experienced kidnap and torture by paramilitaries.


After this, Coelho turned away from progressive politics, working as an executive in the music industry. After a prophetic dream he met a stranger who urged him to study the benign side of magic and to walk the pilgrim's Road to Santiago.

After completing the pilgrimage in 1987, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage, describing his experiences of the extraordinary in ordinary lives. A year later he wrote The Alchemist which was not well received. When he wrote Brida, he gained much attention in the press and both the former books made best seller lists.

Well how we can read the Coelho’s life was very hard because he didn’t have the support from his parents, but he always was looking for his dream and finally it became truly. If we try to compare his life with the book, we notice that the main idea is the same in both cases: Santiago and Paulo try to follow his dream, looking for some clues in their lives, trying to understand the meaning of the existence.

Coelho studied Alchemist for 11 years and understood the essence of its meaning, later was easy to make a book about this because he related his knowledge with his own life, in my opinion.
Well this is all that I can tell you about this excellent book, I recommended it to read it, you can find it in any book store and the cost is very cheap.

5 comentarios:

Lucy dijo...

HI, I read the book too. We have to fight for our goals and the Alchemist tell us how to archieve. Good book!!

JOSE LUIS dijo...

I think the Alchemist is a great book, wich teach the people how they can find the real purpose of their lives, and also this book teach us that dreams may come truth just if we want it really happens.

JOSE LUIS dijo...

I think the Alchemist is a great book, wich teach the people how they can find the real purpose of their lives, and also this book teach us that dreams may come truth just if we want it really happens.

JOSE LUIS dijo...
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por un administrador del blog.
Anónimo dijo...

Dear RickPhd, Paulo Coelho got wind of your blog through aart hilal and wants to post this article on his blog.
Paulo Coelho's blog
In case you have any restrictions, do not hesitate to write me on my email : valentinawol@gmail.com
Have a wonderful day!

And here's a quote to ponder:
The Warrior does not worry that, to others, his behavior might seem quite mad.
(Manual of the Warrior of Light)

Valentina