The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho

One of the common sights in Bangalore is bookseller sitting by the side of the road with a small collection of popular books — some used, some rather poor reprints. Almost every one of them will have a copy of Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist. After seeing it numerous times, I finally broke down and bought a copy. However, I didn’t actually read it until fairly recently and I can’t imaging why I took so long.

The book is very well written and only a few pages in length. The story is rather gripping and reads like a fable. A young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago has a desire to travel the world and discover a hidden treasure. It turns out that his destination are the Pyramids in Egypt and the story starts with him exchanging one of his sheep to start his journey. One thing leads to another and there is a moral at the end of this story for all of us. 

The writing is simple and direct. Which also means that you will be done in an hour or two. A good book for young readers, but then, the morality tale might put them off.