The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho

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Submitted by: premji from premji, india
Hidden Stoty Behind 'The Alchemist'

The al-Chemist

‘Truth, purity, unselfishness – wherever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.’ Swami Vivekananda

What is the true essence of spirituality? This simple question was tormenting me while reading ‘The Alchemist’. To whom all, a writer has to be truthful to? It’s not a simple question, that too when related to a popular writer like Paulo Coelho. First of all a writer has to be truthful to himself, then to his readers and ultimately to the society he represents. When a writer becomes truthful to all the above, naturally his creations contain spirituality. Anyone becomes spiritual when he is truthful to his soul. That will be the simplest of all explanations. Does the magnum opus of Paulo Coelho accept this fact? What is the secret behind the success of ‘The Alchemist’?

The primary dictum of Alchemy is ‘separate and join together’. The secret of creative writing of Paulo Coelho is also the same. He openly accepts this in his book ‘Confessions of a pilgrim’: dissolving and coagulating! What all are dissolved? How does the coagulation happen? These two questions are relevant and have to be answered.

The history of alchemy spans past four millenniums. Alchemy has three different phases.Blackening: burnout of impureness; Whitening: spiritualization, enlightenment,Reddening: unification of man with god, unification of the limited with the unlimited. The definite chief aim of Alchemists was to convert cheap metals into gold or silver, to find out ‘panacea’, a cure for all diseases and a universal solvent. Paulo Coelho is an Alchemist who possesses at least the universal solvent! He has that ‘fluid energy’ like ether which fill the interstellar spaces! And in that universal solvent he adds several things, which may be in the form of thoughts, books etc of others, which may get dissolved! How does he get the product of coagulation, which is point of my search. For this process he derives several laws. We have to enquire their fountainhead. We have to analyze from where he picked up the ingredients, and his apex philosophy of simplifying everything.

The thread of The Alchemist is taken from A tale of two dreamers, a story by Borges. This fact is told by Neerav Bhat, a literary critic. Borges’s story is based on a tale from Arabian nights. A certain man from Baghdad has a dream. In that dream he is being told that a certain treasure is there in Cairo. He goes in search of it and there in Cairo he is picked up by a Police chief. During interrogation the man from Baghdad reveals about his dream. Then the Police chief tells that he also had a dream, a certain treasure is buried in the garden of a house in Baghdad. That house happens to be the house of the man from Baghdad. Paulo Coelho openly admits this story as the fountainhead. But his mind is closed to the story of Borges! Then, from where did he get his philosophy? Shall we dig the grave?

Not reading Paulo Coelho is a sin now-a-days. One of my friends gave me a copy of The Alchemist, last year. She was not happy when I told my comment that it is a pure sales and marketing book! She asked me to read again to find out the underlying philosophy. After reading for a second time, I started asking the following questions to myself. 1. The name Santiago, whether it is a random selection or selected knowingly? 2. Have you seen the alchemist before? 3. Have you heard a similar popular name like ‘Melchizedek’? 4. The personal success philosophy he puts forth, whether it had been told by anybody before? 5. Who all are his masterminds? 6. Is it an original work? Light will be there at the end of every tunnel! “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you to achieve it.”, is it really true?

Paulo Coelho Vs ‘The Law of Success’


Just below the caption “The Law of Success”, the following lines are written: ‘Teaching, for the first time in the history of the world, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is built’. What Napoleon Hill claimed himself is true till today, since he is the man who introduced personal success philosophy to those millions who considered themselves to be failures in life. His success philosophy helped millions to live out their dreams without slightest distraction since the philosophy he put forth was almost perfect. Think and Grow Rich is the ‘Philosopher’s stone’: the Master work of Napoleon Hill. The Law of Success is the ‘elixir of life’, also by him, which represents distilled wisdom of distinguished men of great wealth and achievement. Let’s analyze how these two books helped Paulo Coelho in building his career, the premeditated book: The Alchemist and others.

Deciphering the codes

“God is the Supreme bliss,

The reservoir of Cosmic Energy &

The Infinite intelligence which

Governs everything in this Universe”

There are three types of laws. Man-made law, Social law and God’s law You can break a man-made law for the sake of keeping up Social laws. And if it comes to the God’s law, all Social laws can be broken and we should abide by God’s law only. This is the Indian concept of laws. Now let’s compare the ork of Napoleon Hill: The Law of Success with the success of The Alchemist. Mist will move away in bright sunshine. Let’s start with some lines quoted in The Law of Success.

“An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself” – R.L. Stevenson

The law of success contains fifteen laws. By practicing these fifteen laws in daily life, anyone can accumulate massive treasures if he or she has a burning desire to achieve whatever is there in their mind. Let’s analyze the success of Paulo Coelho, and his magnum opus: The Alchemist on the basis of these fifteen laws. Let’s assume ‘Santiago’, the protagonist in The Alchemist as Paulo Coelho.

1. Definite chief aim

Paulo Coelho was a great failure as a writer initially. But he didn’t give up. He wanted to be a world renowned writer. Truly he followed the success philosophy of Napoleon Hill. So the protagonist Santiago is awarded with a ‘definite chief aim:’ travel through unknown territories and later in search of his treasure. According to Napoleon Hill, a definite chief aim will teach you how to save the wasted effort which majority of people expend in trying to find their life-work.

2. Self confidence

Paulo Coelho had self confidence as of a popular song writer and a playwright But Santiago has lack of self confidence. Paulo Coelho introduces ‘Melchizedek’, the old king, to impart it to Santiago. He teaches Santiago: we destroy our initiative by the fear of defeat, when, in reality, defeat is a most useful tonic and should be accepted as such. Let’s go through the following poem quoted from Law of Success.

‘If you think you are beaten, you are:

If you think you dare not, you don’t;

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose you’ve lost,

For out of the world we find

Success begins with a fellow’s will-

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are-

You’ve got to think high to rise.

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can’t ever win a prize.

Life’s battle don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man:

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can

Does The Alchemist teach anything beyond this? According to Napoleon Hill, self confidence will help you master six basic fears with which every person is cursed – the fear of poverty, the fear of ill-health, the fear of old age, the fear of criticism, the fear of loss of love of someone and the fear of death. So The Alchemist is a tale which states how to outwit all the above fears. (not all of them)

3. Habit of saving

‘Every failure, every adversity, every heartache may be a blessing in disguise’. From his early life, it is very easy to understand that Paulo Coelho was not having the habit of saving. He wished to convert this adversity to an opening to financial freedom. He developed habit of saving during his popular period as a song writer. Santiago has habit of saving, but he has to face temporary defeat at Tangier. Again he develops the above habit and carries it trough out the novel. The Alchemist plainly teaches: no one may succeed in life without saving money and there is no exception to this rule, and no one may escape it. But it has already been taught by Napoleon Hill!

4. Initiative and leadership.

Paulo Coelho had the burning desire to become the best known writer in Brazil. I doubt the man he met in Holland, whom he names ‘J’, is a book authored by Napoleon Hill. From his website, we can understand that he had spent eleven years to prepare for writing The Alchemist. Santiago takes initiative to decipher his dream. When he comes to know about his treasure from the old king, he takes initiative in several things which leads him to financial freedom. Napoleon Hill writes: initiative and leadership will show you how to become a leader instead of a follower in your chosen field of Endeavour. It will develop in you the instinct for leadership which will cause you gravitate to the top in all undertakings you participate.

5. Imagination

Paulo Coelho had only synthetic imagination that is why his earlier works failed to get appreciation. While writing The Alchemist, he planned for a bestseller by openly adopting the creative imagination of Borges and others (that will be discussed later) with some low quality spirituality fused into it. Wide amount of reading helped him to accumulate so many things useful and useless! Santiago is blessed with imagination… Napoleon Hill’s philosophy on creative imagination is directly used in carving Santiago. Because creative imagination is a facility which work along with sixth sense! Through sixth sense only, one can penetrate cosmic habit-force. Imagination is the chief quality of Santiago, with that he restructures the crystal business.

According to Napoleon Hill, imagination will stimulate your mind so that you will conceive new ideas and develop new plans which will help you in attaining your definite chief aim. This lesson will teach you how to build “new houses out of old stones”, so to speak. (Napoleon Hill had already defined the creative process of Paulo Coelho!). It will show you how to create new ideas out of old, well known concepts, and how to put old ideas into new uses.

6. Enthusiasm

He had been successful to conceal the stolen treasures from the notice of critics. Because most of the critics are specialists, not generalists, he could win 95% in that regard. But nothing is so secret but time and truth will reveal it. Santiago is blessed with immense enthusiasm which helps him to live out his ‘personal legend’. (Personal success according to Napoleon Hill). This Enthusiasm enabled Santiago to “saturate” all with whom he came in contact with interest in him and his ideas. This concept of enthusiasm led to ‘language of enthusiasm’.

7. Self-control

He started practicing self control and discipline by following Napoleon Hill. Hill had immense faith in prayer and Christianity. Paulo Coelho also follows the same. By controlling the subconscious mind (Heart) free from negative emotions, Santiago marches toward his personal legend. Napoleon Hill is called father of personal ‘success’ literature, but Paulo Coelho calls it personal ‘legend’. According to Napoleon Hill: self control is the “balance wheel” with which you can control your enthusiasm and direct it where you wish it to carry you.

8. Habit of extra mile

If you analyze him carefully through the eye of a keen marketing man, then only you can find the hidden sales man in Paulo Coelho. This habit only gave him the persistence in running behind another publisher and ultimately victory was his own, befooling the chicken littles of America and through them he conquered the world with his book The alchemist. (Warriors of light have the habit of extra mile: - this line is the proof that Paulo Coelho had read Law of Success!) Paulo Coelho cleverly uses the law of increasing returns (Render more service than that for you are paid and you will soon be paid for more than you render.) for defining the days; ideas shared by boy and crystal merchant which ultimately brings huge amount of business.

Napoleon Hill writes: ‘If you have tried and met with defeat; if you have planned and watched your plans as they were crushed before your eyes; just remember that the greatest men in all history were products of courage, and courage, you know, is born in the cradle of adversity.’ Does the alchemist teach Santiago anything beyond this?

9. Pleasing personality

He had changed earlier itself into a pleasing personality by leaving his hippy clan. Napoleon Hill was a strict catholic, so Paulo Coelho also should be! Santiago has very pleasing personality since he is free from all negative emotions! Ideal pulp hero! Napoleon Hill writes: Pleasing personality is the fulcrum on which you must have place the “crow-bar” of your efforts, and when so placed with intelligence, it will enable you to remove mountains of obstacles. It will teach you how to transform your personality so that you may adapt yourself to any environment, or to any other personality, in such a manner that you may easily dominate.

10. Accurate thinking

Accurate thinking is the best quality of the alchemist. It teaches you what an “important” fact is. It teaches you how to build definite working plans in pursuit of any calling, out of facts. It teaches you how to separate facts from mere information. It teaches you to separate relevant and irrelevant. It taught Paulo Coelho how to do select proper ideas of others!

11. Concentration

He didn’t have the slightest distraction while writing The Alchemist, within two weeks. Because everything is pre-planned, nothing is spontaneous. That is why it becomes a premeditated book. Napoleon Hill took twenty-five long years to compile his success philosophy. Concentration is a quality imparted to Santiago by the alchemist. To achieve definite major purpose, concentration is a must. But Paulo Coelho needed just two weeks to steal every invention to armour his hero!

12. Co-operation

Keeping constant touch with the readers, Paulo Coelho sells himself before selling the new books. The most needed caliber of a sales man! His Santiago is free to mingle with anybody. Just analyze his relationship with the camel driver, the English man, the crystal merchant, he is very co-operative everywhere. According to Hill, a man will be most co-operative if and only if he is free from all negative emotions like friction, jealousy, strife, envy, and cupidity etc…So Santiago also should be free from all negative emotions. An ideal pulp hero! Just read the following lines from ‘Law of success’. Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day – Sanskrit. The camel driver also teaches the same. Does Paulo Coelho have any sort of originality?

13. Profiting by failure.

Everybody believes that The Alchemist is a novel discussing faith Vs will. But it is actually faith Vs fear. Being a mediocre writer in the eighties, he had nothing to lose! By leaning new lessons from failure, Santiago loses his gold several times, but ultimately it helps him to find out his personal success. Profiting by failure teaches how to make stepping stones out of all your past and future mistakes and failures. It teaches how to differentiate between “failure” and “temporary defeat”. Napoleon Hill writes: ‘Every failure will teach you a lesson that you need to learn if you will keep your eyes and ears open and be willing to be taught. Every adversity is a blessing in disguise. Without reverses and temporary defeat, you would never know the sort of metal of which you are made of.’

14. Tolerance

Tolerance is very much related to accurate thought. Intolerance makes enemies of those who should be friends. It destroys opportunities and fills the mind without doubt, mistrust and prejudice. Paulo Coelho has maximum tolerance and Santiago also should be! Mastermind philosophy is openly used by Paulo Coelho in moulding Santiago. Santiago is advised several times by the alchemist to free his heart from negative thoughts and fear, because whatever he thinks can be known to dominating minds. This concept is already explained by Hill!

15. Practicing Golden rule

With this lesson we approach the apex of the ‘pyramid’ of this course on the law of success. The chapter Golden Rule starts with the preceding line. The golden rule means, substantially, to do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you if your positions were reversed. Napoleon Hill writes: ‘When render service to another or indulge in an act of kindness, I store away in my mind the effects of my efforts, which may be likened to the “charging” of an electric battery. By and by if I indulge in a sufficient member of such acts, I will be developed a positive, dynamic character that will attract me to people who harmonize with or resemble my own character. Those whom I attract to me will reciprocate the acts of kindness and the service that I have rendered others, thus the law of compensation will have balanced the scales of justice for me, bringing back from one source the result of service that I rendered through an entirely different source’.

This is the simple technique to transform anybody to an alchemist. By the unification of limited with the unlimited, the archer of pseudo-spirituality laughs at you!

‘Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The only sin is limitation. As soon as you once come up to a man’s limitations, it is all over with him.’ – Emerson. By preaching this principle, Paulo Coelho turns himself wind! The above fifteen laws define Santiago!

Everything passes at par temporarily;

Truth alone remains permanently.

Alas! Paulo Coelho does not know this! Dear readers, I would like to ask a very simple question: is Rio de Janeiro a port city? (Thieves are there in every port!)

Read the following lines quoted from The law of success, it is the nutshell of The Alchemist. It is only Paulo Coelho, who can transform even a small piece of poetry into a masterwork: The Alchemist, without even the slightest modification!

‘Master of human destinies am I!

Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait.

Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate

Deserts and seas remote, and passing by

Hovel and mart and palace-soon or late

I knock, unbidden, once at every gate!

If sleeping, wake-if feasting, rise before

I turn away. It is the hour of fate,

And they who follow me every state

Mortals desire and conquer every foe

Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,

Condemned to failure, penury, and woe,

Seek me in vain and uselessly implore.

I answer not, and I return no more!’ - INGALLS



We can find all the fifteen qualities are with Santiago. Paulo Coelho proved from his own achievements that the philosophy of Napoleon Hill is practical. But one thing he has to remember always is: Riches gotten with craft are commonly lost with shame! When a reader loses faith in the writer, what is the point in writing?

The al-Chemist: one who cannot foresee his own destiny! Paulo Coelho fails bitterly by becoming an al-Chemist! Wheel of fortune rolls down to misfortune and his masterpiece becomes Cocktail of marketing and sales, plagiarism and treason. He befooled critics and readers by using the word destiny instead of definite chief aim!

Dear readers, do you know what is written on the Emerald Tablet?

“By and large, there is no such thing ‘as something for nothing!’

- Napoleon Hill.

The funniest thing: ‘Life attracts life’, the sentence told by the alchemist, is a derivative of Law of attraction by Napoleon Hill.

When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” he should have informed us that we are the Masters of our fate, the Captain of our Souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts. Does Paulo Coelho teach anything beyond this?

There is no need to search for the influence of Jung, Freud, Emerson or Plato in The Alchemist, because everything is cleanly and orderly explained in Law of Success! Napoleon Hill becomes the true Alchemist!

“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.” - John Keats

The Alchemist VS Think and Grow Rich!

Think and grow rich is the most famous book by Napoleon Hill, which teaches the famous Andrew Carnegie formula for money making based upon the thirteen proven steps to riches. Now Andrew Carnegie becomes the alchemist and Napoleon Hill becomes the boy, the dreamer! The boy may be named with any name, but he is named as Santiago by Paulo Coelho! Napoleon Hill took 25 years of research, in collaboration with more than 500 distinguished men of great wealth to organize his thoughts in the form of Think and Grow Rich. Paulo Coelho took just two weeks to steal every aspect of ‘the millionaire’s book’ to give flesh and life to his magnum opus: The Alchemist!

Desire: The first step toward riches

Now let’s follow the dream of Santiago, the protagonist in The Alchemist, on the basis of Think and grow rich. The ‘personal legend’ (personal success according to Napoleon Hill) of the boy is to travel the world, to the castles in towns and life of people. So his father gives him three ancient Spanish coins as his capital to buy some sheep. The boy Santiago has a burning desire to travel the world, which is the first step toward riches according to Napoleon Hill: the alchemist.

The relation between Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill has been adopted to carve the two characters, the alchemist and the boy. Another example is the relation between Andrew Carnegie and Charles. M. Schwab. Again Edison the ‘Magician of Menlo Park’ and Edwin C Barnes and ultimately Napoleon Hill and Paulo Coelho! Edwin .C. Barnes was the chief salesman of Edison. (Made by Edison, sold by Barns)

Napoleon hill says: every person who wins in every undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.

Faith: The second step toward riches

Before reaching Tarifa, the boy thinks about the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. When the boy reaches Tarifa, he goes to meet the old gypsy woman who interprets dreams. The boy had same dream twice and the old woman interprets it and plants faith to follow his dream. She says that his treasure is somewhere nears the pyramids and she does not charge for her consultation. The boy feels happy that he saved some money. But the woman could successfully plant a dream which could be realized in future. It is something like goal setting. But the boy has the fear of criticism in his mind which makes him think: everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

In Tarifa the boy sells his old book and gets a new book. The boy starts reading the book; an old man comes and sits near him. The old man asks the boy what book he was reading. Afterwards he discloses the world’s biggest lie: that at certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.

Read the following passage carefully from the second chapter of Think and Grow Rich:-

“There are millions of people who BELIEVE themselves “doomed” to poverty and failure, because of some strange force over which they BELIEVE they have no control. They are the creators of their own “misfortunes,” because of this negative BELIEF, which is picked up by the subconscious mind, and translated to its physical equivalent.” Now you will be clear about the world’s biggest liar! The Old man tells the boy that he was born at ‘Salem’. The place Salem, West Virginia, has lot of importance in the book Think and Grow Rich; it is one of the places where Napoleon Hill delivered important speeches. After listening to these speeches, lot of people changed their perspective towards life. Napoleon Hill is also the king of Salem.

The old man convinces that the boy succeeded in discovering his destiny. To the question of the boy: what destiny means, the old man replies: Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. But as the time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny. Now just compare the strange force in the above paragraph and the mysterious force form The Alchemist. Is it coincidence or deliberate copying? The word destiny is similar to definite chief aim, used by Napoleon Hill.

The Old man realizes the boy that dreams are the seedlings of reality. Old king wants to induce faith in the mind of the boy. He tells him sometimes I appear in the form of a solution, or a good idea! Now read from Napoleon Hill:-

‘FAITH is the “eternal elixir” which gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought!

FAITH is the starting point of all accumulation of riches!

FAITH is the basis of all “MIRACLES,” and the mysteries which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science!

FAITH is the only antidote for FAILURE!

FAITH is the element, the “CHEMICAL” which, when mixed with prayer, gives one direct communication with the infinite intelligence!

FAITH is an element which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into the spiritual equivalent!

FAITH is the only agency through which the cosmic force of infinite intelligence can be harnessed and used by man!

Keeping the above statements as foundation Paulo Coelho constructed his masterwork of TREASON! He just changed INFINITE INTELLIGENCE to Soul of God!

The old king tells the boy that, the week before he appeared in front of a miner in the form a stone: the most beautiful emerald on the world by which he intends to teach the boy about PERSISTENECE! Paulo Coelho took the above story from Think and Grow Rich: THREE FEET FROM GOLD! That miner is none but R.U. Darby’s uncle. Here, Coelho changes the situation of loss of the vein of gold into gain of the most beautiful emerald! Real alchemy!

Auto-suggestion – The third step towards riches

The keystone of Paulo Coelho’s philosophy can be understood by reading the following passages from Think and Grow Rich.

“Nature has so built man that he has ABSOLUTE CONTROL over the material which reaches his subconscious mind, through five senses, although this is not meant to be construed as a statement that man always EXERCISES this control. In the great majority of instances, he does NOT exercise it, which explains why so many people go through life in poverty.” FOLLOW THE OMENS! The old king said! Listen to your heart!



“Many philosophers have made the statement that man is the master of his earthily destiny, but most of them have failed to say why he is the master. Man may become the master of himself, and his environment, because he has the power to influence his own subconscious mind, and through it, gain the cooperation of Infinite Intelligence.”

These sentences explain how the boy turns himself to wind!

Specialized Knowledge: the forth step toward riches



Napoleon Hill writes: - “There are two kinds of knowledge. One is general and the other is specialized. General knowledge, no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be, is of but little use in the accumulation of money. KNOWLEDGE will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through PRACTICAL PLANS OF ACTION, to the DEFINITE END of accumulation of money. Lack of understanding of this fact has been the source of confusion to millions of people who falsely believe that “knowledge is power”. It is nothing of the sort! Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.” That’s why the old king says every book almost contains the same thing! But Paulo Coelho did the organized planning to find the perfect cocktail of ideas and characters from others during his creative process (still continuing!).

The king of Salem asks one tenth of Santiago’s sheep for telling the fortune awaiting. Napoleon hill says: One of the strange things about human beings is that they value only that has a price. The old king deliberately does this to plant a burning desire in the mind of the boy to get freed from LACK OF AMBITION.

Imagination: the fifth step toward riches

It has been said that man can create anything he can imagine. Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination.

Napoleon hill writes about two forms of imagination.



Synthetic Imagination: Through this facility, one may arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations. This faculty creates nothing. It merely works with the material experience, education and observation with which it is fed. It is the faculty used most by the inventor, with the exception of the one who draws upon the creative imagination, when he cannot solve his problem through synthetic imagination.

The Englishman in The Alchemist falls in the above category and unfortunately Paulo Coelho also! He gathers material from anywhere and converts them into unknown combinations and presents before the readers. Isn’t it betrayal? Of course he is the Englishman and Borges is the Alchemist.

Creative Imagination: Through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It is the faculty through with “haunches” and “inspirations” are received. It is by this faculty that all basic or new ideas are handed over to man. It is through this facility that thought vibrations from minds of others are received. It is through this facility that one individual may “tune in”, or communicate with the subconscious minds of other men.

The shepherd boy is an example of creative imagination, though the character is blend of so many other characters! First Paulo Coelho gave life, action and guidance to ideas, and then they took on power of their own and sweep aside all opposition. But Brazilian writers are great people: they could immediately notice that The Alchemist is only a self-help book!

SUCCESS REQUIRES NO EXPLANATIONS

FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS

“Ideas are intangible forces, but they have more power than the physical brains that gave birth to them. They have the power to live on, after the brain that creates them has returned to dust. For example take the power of Christianity. That began with a simple idea, born in the brain of Christ. Its chief tenet was, “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Christ has gone back to source from whence He came, but his IDEA is marching on. Some day, it may grow up, and come on its own, then it will have completed Christ’s deepest DESIRE. The IDEA has been developing only two thousand years. Give time.” Dear readers, could you find any correlation between game theory of Coelho: that the desert nourishes the falcon, falcon nourishes man and eventually man will nourish the desert and idea from the above passage from Think and Grow Rich? The ‘intangible forces’ are very dear to Coelho!

Organized Planning: The sixth step towards riches

“Everything man creates or acquires, begins in the form of a DESIRE, that desire is taken on the first lap of its journey, from the abstract to the concrete, into the workshop of IMAGINATION, where plans for its transition are created and organized.

No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability, and acknowledge to insure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people. Every plan you adopt, in your endeavor to accumulate wealth, should be the joint creation of yourself and every other member of your MASTER MIND group. You may originate your own plans, either in whole or in part, but SEE THAT THOSE PLANS ARE CHECKED AND APPROVED BY THE MEMBERS OF YOUR MASTERMIND ALLIANCE.” :- Napoleon Hill

In Paulo Coelho’s Master Mind, there are people like Borges, Napoleon Hill, Earnest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and others!

When the boy faces a temporary defeat in Tangier: loss of his savings, he does not give up. Napoleon Hill says, we see men who have accumulated great wealth, but we often recognize only their triumph, overlooking the temporary defeats which they had to surmount before “arriving.” A quitter never wins and a winner never quits!



Napoleon Hill says on planning THE SALE OF SERVICES, “It should be encouraging to know that practically all the great fortunes began in the form of compensation of personal services, or from sale of IDEAS. What else, except ideas and personal services, would not on possessed of property have to give in return of riches?”

Let’s analyze the situation when the boy joins the crystal merchant. Business is poor and the boy understands that he has to mix with new ideas and imagination to improve business and he has to overcome the old man procrastination of the merchant who is contented with the present life. Is it not based on the above?



The boy convinces the crystal merchant for making a display case, which eventually improves business. But the boy is not contented and he converts another opportunity in the form of providing tea in crystal glasses to the tired travelers. They drink tea as well as purchase crystal for their wives. Boy gets good commission and finally he gets enough money to buy one hundred and twenty sheep, return ticket, and an import license of products from Africa.

Read the following passage from Think and Grow rich, “When a merchant finds that a certain line of merchandise is not selling, he usually supplants it with another that is in demand. The person whose business is that of marketing personal services must also be an efficient merchant. If his services do not bring adequate returns in one occupation, he must change to another, where broader opportunities are available.” See, how much Paulo Coelho is indebted to Napoleon Hill to construct the character Santiago, a man of ideas mixed with imagination! He only taught Coelho the Language of enthusiasm!

Decision: The seventh step towards riches

Lack of proper decision in the right time is the root cause of Failure. The Old King first sets a goal in the mind of the boy. In order to keep a BURNING DESIRE in the mind of the boy, he asks one tenth of his sheep. The old man gives Urim and Thummim to the boy to overcome the boy’s incapability of decision making. Procrastination is the opposite thing of decision, which practically every man must conquer, Hill reminds us.

Persistence: The eighth step toward success

“Persistence: The sustained effect effort necessary to induce faith. Persistence is an essential factor in the procedure of transmuting desire into its monetary equivalent. The basis of persistence is the POWER OF WILL. Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure. Moreover, experience of thousands of people has proved that lack of persistence is a weakness common to majority of men. It is a weakness which may be overcome by effort. The ease with which lack of persistence may be conquered will depend entirely upon the INTENSITY OF ONE’S OWN DESIRE.

HOW TO DEVELOP PERSISTENCE: The necessary steps are:-


A definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment.
A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences
A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.”

- Napoleon Hill.

Does the alchemist teach Santiago anything beyond the above? From this chapter itself, Paulo Coelho picks up the character Fatima, since the life of Prophet is analyzed by Napoleon Hill. We appreciate your persistence, dear Coelho!

The Master Mind: The ninth step toward riches

‘A mastermind may be created through the bringing together of blending, in a spirit of perfect harmony, of two or more minds. Out of this harmonious blending the chemistry of the mind creates a third mind which may be appropriated and used by one or all of the individual minds. This mastermind will remain available as long as the friendly, harmonious alliance between the individual minds exists. It will disintegrate and all evidence of its former existence will disappear the moment the friendly alliance is broken’. When the boy works with the crystal merchant, he remains the mastermind behind the riches accumulated. Napoleon Hill writes; “POWER is essential for success in accumulation of money. PLANS are inert and useless, without sufficient POWER to translate them to ACTION. POWER may be defined as “organized and intelligently directed KNOWLEDGE”. If power is organized knowledge, let’s examine the sources of knowledge.

INFINITE INTELLIGENCE (Paulo Coelho calls it SOUL OF GOD!)
ACCUMULATED EXPERIENCE (knowledge of alchemist)
EXPERIMENT AND RESERCH (Englishman)

The boy is the mastermind of crystal merchant, chieftain of Al-fayoum. Later the alchemist becomes the mastermind of the boy. When the limited joins with the unlimited, the boy turns himself to wind!

Sex transmutation: The tenth step toward riches.

Napoleon Hill writes, “Love is without question, life’s greatest experience. It brings one into communion with Infinite Intelligence. When mixed with the emotions of romance and sex, it may lead one far up the ladder of creative effort. The emotions of love, sex and romance are sides of the eternal triangle of achievement building genius. Nature creates genii through no other force. When the emotion of romance is added to those of love and sex, the obstructions between the finite mind of man and the Infinite Intelligence are removed.” Does Paulo Coelho tell anything new through the relationship between the boy and Fatima? Through this key, he teaches what love means to the desert.

The subconscious mind: The eleventh step toward riches

“THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND WORKS DAY AND NIGHT. Through a method of procedure, unknown to man, the subconscious mind draws upon the forces of Infinite Intelligence for the power with which it voluntarily transmutes one’s desire into their physical equivalent, making use, always the most practical media by which this end may be accomplished. You cannot entirely control your subconscious mind, but you can voluntarily hand over to it any plan, desire, or purpose which you wish transformed into concrete form.”

There is plenty of evidence to support the belief that the subconscious mind is the connecting link between the finite mind of man and Infinite Intelligence (soul of God). It is the intermediary through which one may draw upon the forces of Infinite Intelligence at will. It, alone contains the secret process by which mental impulses are modified and changed into their spiritual equivalent. It, alone is the medium through which prayer may be transmuted to the source capable of answering prayer.”

Dear readers, by now you may be clear how to LISTEN TO YOUR HEART. Paulo Coelho adopted the above technique to TRANSFORM THE BOY TO WIND. Sometimes he calls subconscious mind ‘heart’. The Brazilian writers are correct: Paulo Coelho is writing only self-help books. The Alchemist is the greatest example of that. We can rename it: THE BLASPHEMIST.

Santiago is a pulp-hero. He has all seven positive emotions, which are, the emotion of DESIRE, FAITH, LOVE, SEX, ENTHUSIASM, ROMANCE AND HOPE. And he has only one negative emotion that is FEAR out of seven (fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition and anger).

The brain: The twelfth step towards riches

“The brain: a broadcasting and receiving station for thought. Through the medium of ether, in a fashion similar to that employed by the radio broadcasting principle, every human brain is capable of picking up vibrations of thought which are being released by other people.”



The alchemist advises the boy never to put negative thoughts in his heart since every one in the desert is capable of picking up his fear. Paulo Coelho picks up the pulse of the readers and makes a cocktail of treason, pseudo-spirituality and ultimately pollutes their minds! Omens are thoughts picked up from the ether!

The sixth sense: The thirteenth step toward riches

“The thirteenth principle is known as the SIXTH SENSE, through which Infinite Intelligence may, and will communicate voluntarily, without any effort from, or demands by, the individual. This principle is the apex of the philosophy. It can be assimilated, understood, and applied ONLY by first mastering the other twelve principles.

The SIXTH SENSE is that portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as the Creative Imagination. It has also been referred to as the “receiving set” through which ideas, plans, and thoughts flash into the mind. The “flashes” are sometimes called “hunches” or inspirations.” : Napoleon Hill

Now read about “hunches” described by Paulo Coelho: “Learning the universal language that deals with the past and the present of all people. “Hunches,” his mother used to call them, the sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life!” Does this man have any sort of originality?

‘You can make your own miracles’; it is the name of a book by Napoleon Hill. Similarly you can make your own wind!

Faith VS Fear

The previous thirteen steps are adopted in developing Santiago as a modern idol of success. But he had to master the element of fear also. The three enemies the boy had to outwit were INDECISION, DOUBT AND FEAR. The alchemist helps the boy to come out these fears, of course it was his destiny! So the book The Alchemist becomes a tale of Faith VS Fear! There are six basic fears.


The fear of ILL HEALTH
The fear of LOSS OF LOVE OF SOMEONE
The fear of OLD AGE
The fear of DEATH
The fear of CRITICISM
The fear of POVERTY

In The Alchemist, the boy has to face at least four of the above. So the entire story revolves around FAITH VS FEAR! Poor critics are not aware of the marketing and sales that Paulo Coelho is most aware! That’s why they call this trash as a publishing phenomenon! It is very sad that The Alchemist is a must read book for business management in some Universities. Paulo Coelho simply sits and laughs: “I befooled many millions that fetched me many millions!”

If Paulo Coelho says that I am yet to read Think and Grow Rich, I can very easily break that argument since storyline of his novel VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE is adopted from the above. Do you want to go through it; here we go…

In the fifteenth chapter of Think and Grow Rich! by Napoleon Hill, he describes six basic fears, with some combination of which every human suffers at one tune or another.

Read the following passage from FEAR OF ILL HEALTH.

‘Disappointments in business and in love stand at the head of the list of causes of fear of ill health. A young man suffered a disappointment in love which sent him to a hospital. For months he hovered between life and death. A specialist in suggestive therapeutics was called in. the specialist changed nurses, placing him in charge of a very charming young woman who began (by pre-arrangement with the doctor) to make love to him the first day of her arrival on the job. Within three weeks the patient was discharged from the hospital, still suffering, but with an entirely different malady. HE WAS IN LOVE AGAIN. The remedy was a hoax, but the patient and the nurse were later married. Both are in good health at the time of this writing.’

Now compare the storyline of Veronika decides to die with the above passage. The protagonist Veronica decides to end up her life even though she had good friends, good job etc. She feels some sort of emptiness. Everything is mere repetition. (Remember: everyday is Monday: Jose Arcadio Buendia, Gabriel Garcia Marquez) She takes an overdose of sleeping pills and later thrown into a mental hospital. Her doctor tells has that she has only some days left with since her heart is in a very bad condition. This imparts some sort of strong passion for coming back into life and in the meantime she falls in love with a schizophrenic. When the mindset of defeat, emptiness and hatred towards everything disappears, the doctor tells her that the problem with her heart is a hoax!

Paulo Coelho is a wonderful storyteller, but in the stories and characters only roles reversed, like in the above in case, of Veronika decides to die.(male becomes female, swamp turns to desert!) He has very good talent in cutting and pasting in unknown permutations and combinations which ordinary readers and critics cannot identify as they are specialists, not generalists.

Dear readers, Anyway one thing is sure that he had read Think and Grow Rich during his days with music industry! The Alchemist is an outstanding example of that. All that glitters is not gold. All are not saints that go to church! Whatever the OLD KING and THE ALCHEMIST told to the boy is taken from THINK AND GROW RICH! That is how Paulo Coelho created a mere self-help book by cutting and pasting of other’s ideas, in unknown combinations! That’s why; The Alchemist is the illegitimate child of Napoleon Hill.

What is written on the Emerald Tablet: THINK AND GROW RICH! “You can do it if you believe you can!”

“Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction” – Lord Byron

‘The Alchemist’ VS ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the 1982 NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE, is one of the finest novels of all times. This comic novel is a real example of creative imagination and that’s why Paulo Coelho picked up characters, qualities of characters and a similar plot from the above. From the official website of Paulo Coelho, one can easily understand that Marquez is not his favorite writer; the reason is very simple that Paulo Coelho has to protect himself from the inspiration of Marquez. The comparison between Marquez and Paulo Coelho is so silly, like a comparison between Mediterranean and river Nile!

Just go through the first page of One Hundred Years of Solitude, you can find out ‘The Alchemist.’

In every year during the month of March a family of ragged gypsies would set their tents near Macondo and then they would display new inventions. This time they brought the magnet. Melquiades, a heavy gypsy with an untamed beard and sparrow hand, put on a bold public demonstration of what he himself called the eighth wonder of the learned ALCHEMISTS of Macedonia. He went from house to house dragging the two metal ingots and ingots did their magic, like pots, pans, tongs etc tumble down from their places, the lost metal items reappeared! Melquiades proclaimed with a harsh voice: “Things have a life of their own. It’s simply a matter of waking up of their souls.” Jose Arcadio Buendia, the founder of Macondo, thought that it would be possible to extract gold from the bowels of earth. He traded his mule and a pair of goats for the two magnetized ingots.

The term of alchemy, everything is related to Soul of the world. See, how Paulo Coelho’s soul is awakened for a great creation and how he draws energy from the first page of Marquez! Just notice the similarity between the names Melquiades and Melchizedek: the Old king! Melchizedek is a Biblical character from Old Testament, who possesses immense wisdom. Melquiades also possess immense wisdom. In the next March gypsies return. This time they brought a telescope. Jose Arcadio Buendia conceived the idea of using that invention as a weapon of war. Melquiades tried to dissuade him, but he finally accepted two magnetized ingots and three colonial coins in exchange for the magnifying glass. That money was from Ursula’s small chest with gold that she had inherited from her father and that she had buried underneath her bed.

In The Alchemist, when the boy wishes to travel around, his father gives him a pouch that held three ancient Spanish gold coins. The money was found one day in the fields. His father wants it to be a part of his inheritance.

Just compare the similarities even in the number of coins and their source of inheritance. It clearly indicates that Paulo Coelho is greatly influenced by Marquez!

When the solar war project of Jose Arcadio Buendia fails, Melquiades, the honest gypsy returns his doubloons in exchange for the magnifying glass and leaves some Portuguese maps and several instruments of navigation. In his own handwriting he set down a concise synthesis of the studies by Monk Herman. (Does monk Herman belong to the old Coptic monastery?). After conducting several experiments Jose Arcadio Buendia proclaims that the earth is round, like an orange. The whole Macondo is convinced that he had lost his reason. When Melquiades returns back, he gives a public praise and gives him a gift: the laboratory of an Alchemist!

Dear readers, just imagine, what kind of relationship exists between Melquiades and Jose Arcadio Buendia, the man who was the leader of the travel which lasted for twenty six months and founding of Macondo. Isn’t it similar to the relationship between the Alchemist and Santiago the boy? Santiago’s travel also lasts for nearly the same amount of time. What should we understand from this comparison of travel time! The aim of travel of Buendia is to find out an outlet to the sea, but that of Santiago is to cross the desert and reach the Pyramids for his treasure. In alchemy, when the sea recedes, deserts form! Jose Arcadio Buendia finds out that Macondo is surrounded by water and Santiago, desert around the pyramids! I hope, now you would understand why Paulo Coelho does not like Marquez.

Jose Arcadio Buendia is fascinated by the immense wisdom possessed by Melquiades. The explanation of the rudimentary laboratory of Jose Arcadio Buendia, reminds the laboratory set by the Englishman. Marquez gives even the minute details in the first chapter itself, Paulo Coelho: some where nearing the end! He knows how to play with positions also!

The laboratory – in addition to a profusion of pots, funnels, retorts, filters, and sieves- was made up of a primitive water pipe, a glass beaker with a long, thin neck, a reproduction of the Philosopher’s egg, and a still that the gypsies themselves had built in accordance with alembic of Mary and Jew. Along with those items, Melquiades left samples of the seven metals that corresponded to the seven planets, the formulas of Moses and Zosimus for doubling the quantity of gold, and a set of notes and sketches concerning the process of the Great Teaching that would permit those who could interpret them to undertake the manufacture of philosopher’s stone. Seduced by the simplicity of formulas to double the quantity of gold, Jose Arcadio Buendia paid court his wife. When she gives him the three gold coins, he throws those coins into a pan and fuses them with copper filings, orpiment, brimstone and lead, which ultimately results in Ursula’s inheritance reduced to a large piece of burnt hog cracklings that was firmly stuck to the bottom of the pot. (This explanation defines English man, he has books and formulae. Alchemist does this in the end)

Here Melquiades does not know how to double the quantity of gold. But Paulo Coelho’s alchemist, two hundred years old (Like Franciscan, the two hundred year old vagabond from One Hundred Years Of Solitude) knows how to convert lead to gold because he has the masterwork: the philosopher’s stone. Poor Melquiades, ageing and awaiting death, has only an image of that! How sad! And how clever is Paulo Coelho, creating his own alchemist by the technique of imaging (just like taking negatives as in photography) by dissolving and coagulation of various characters! He is the Master of All crafts!

Paulo Coelho uses the capability of Aureliano Buendia’s premonitions in moulding the character of Santiago. Jose Arcadio Buendia founds Macondo because he is not able to decipher his dream and Santiago goes to the old gypsy woman who lives in Tarifa. Pilar Ternera is an expert in dealing with omens. A close analysis will reveal that the old gypsy woman is none but the character Pilar Ternera of Marquez. ‘Pilar Ternera’ knows how to read the future in cards. She stays with her parents in Macondo. Paulo Coelho is very cunning that he converted her to an interpreter of dreams! When he explains about the gypsies kidnapping children, it makes us remember the running away of Jose Arcadio, the elder son of Jose Arcadio Buendia. When the gypsy woman touches Santiago’s palms, his body trembles, which reminds the situation when Pilar Ternera touches Jose Arcadio. Pilar Ternera has the ability to interpret omens that she gives warnings to Colonel Aureliano Buendia later. Here also Paulo Coelho is successful in reversing the roles! That’s why people call The Alchemist A magical fable: – from magical realism to black magic of stealing in day light! Jose Arcadio Buendia deciphers his dream after he comes across ice. He plans for a city made of ice blocks. It will be a cold city, he dreams. Pyramids are made of stone blocks… when Buendia succeeds in separating gold from the burnt out residue, Ursula is happy, they are successful in introducing Alchemy.

The caravan of the gypsies is a symbol of progress that they bring to Macondo. When Jose Arcadio leaves Macondo, Ursula goes in search of him. When a group of people reaches Macondo along with Ursula, it develops into a town, well designed by Jose Arcadio Buendia. The people who had come with Ursula spread the news of the good quality of its soil and its privileged position with respect to the swamp, so that from narrow village of past times it changes into an active town with stores and workshops and a permanent commercial route over which first Arabs arrives. Jose Arcadio Buendia becomes all in all of Macondo (Chieftain) and decides to plant almond trees in the streets.

Now compare Al-Fayoum oasis with Macondo. It’s also a caravan route. The people of the caravan bring progress and creative imagination of outer world. Macondo was also a neutral town until the conservatives came with six armed men. Here in Al-Fayoum oasis, the premonition of Santiago saves the oasis. Aureliano is known for his premonitions; this quality is knowingly fused into the character Santiago. Quite interesting, isn’t it? That’s what the caliber of Paulo Coelho is! Jose Arcadio Buendia, the chieftain of Macondo, opposes the magistrate Don Apolinar Moscote and his armed men. After Aureleano Buendia gets married to the daughter of Moscote, he brings six policemen armed with rifles to whom he entrusted maintenance of law and order, and no one remembered the original agreement not to have armed men in the town. During election process, they take away even the kitchen knives. Every arm is with the magistrate. Don’t you notice the similarities in plots?

Jose Arcadio, the elder son of Jose Arcadio Buendia arrives who had been around the world sixty-five times, and starts telling his stories of different experiences to the family members and others, reminds Santiago’s caliber in telling stories to the Moorish girl and the Arab boys of the oasis. Paulo Coelho is very cunning; he knows how to fuse together the different qualities of different characters into Santiago, the ideal character! The relation between Aureliano Buendia and Melquiades is something like the relationship between the Englishman and the Alchemist. When Melquiades starts writing his parchments in his own language, the history and future of Macondo is written. It is written, which means MAKTUB according to Paulo Coelho! Tell me, who is the Alchemist, Marquez or Paulo Coelho?

Then the civil war breaks out, between conservatives and liberals. Colonel Aureliano Buendia becomes the leader of liberals. He leaves Macondo with Arcadio, who becomes a terrible dictator. When the conservative forces attack Macondo, they capture Arcadio and keep him before the firing squad. This civil war is treated as the war between different tribes in the desert which might last for years according to Paulo Coelho. Here the invaders execute the leader of Macondo. Just the roles reversed in The Alchemist. Another similar situation is also there: when the strike starts in Banana Company, 3000 native people are butchered by the armed policemen of conservatives and the leader of the strike, Jose Arcadio Segundo, is spared! The dead bodies are thrown into the sea. In The Alchemist 2000 armed natives of Al-Fayoum butcher 500 invaders. They capture the leader and hang him. But Paulo Coelho does not speak where there bodies are thrown away. Everything is reversed

Generations pass and Jose Arcadio, the son of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del Caprio, is sent to Rome to attend a seminary so that in future he will become the Pope which will improve the reverence of Buendia family. But he simply stays outside Rome, but he is very vigilant in writing letters to his mother about the seminary life. Jose Arcadio is a drop out of seminary and of course Santiago should also be! Paulo Coelho is a great magician.

The son of Renata, Aureliano Babylonia starts deciphering the codes in the parchments left by Melquiades. He learned by heart the fantastic legends of the crumbling books, the synthesis of the studies of Hermann the cripple, the notes on the science of demonology, the keys to the philosopher’s stone. He reached adolescence without knowing a thing about his own time but with the basic knowledge of a medieval man. He understands the parchments of Melquiades are in Sanskrit! Marquez also has an Indian connection! During the deciphering process also Melquiades is there in the form of a ghost. Paulo Coelho is claimed to be an alchemist and an expert in demonology!

When Jose Arcadio comes from Rome he has to sell every thing including those seventy two chamber pots for a living since family income is in such a bad shape! Then he befriends four adolescent children and one night they find out the treasure that Ursula had hidden under the slabs in her bedroom (for which Aureliano Segundo had dug every inch of the court yard, like Santiago digging near the pyramid!). Jose Arcadio understands that Aureliano can talk about Rome like he had lived there for several years. ‘Everything is known’ was the reply he got from Aureliano. After some time he expels the four boys from the house who know about the whereabouts of those three sack full of gold coins. One day they brutally murders Jose Arcadio and steal away the treasure. Does the above incident remind you, dear readers, and the loss of gold of Santiago near the pyramids? Paulo Coelho is a great story teller that he will take only that he wants from others!

When Amaranta Ursula and her husband Gaston return from Brussels, she finds out that there is no woman in home. Macondo is in ruins. Out of boredom Gaston enters the room of Melquiades; he takes pleasure in recalling with him the most hidden corners of his country which Aureliano knew as if he had spent some time there. When Gaston asks, how do you all this, Aureliano replies: everything is known! Is it not MAKTUB in Arabic? During the process of deciphering the parchments of Melquiades, he learns Sanskrit, Latin, French and Greek. Santiago learns Latin in the seminary and Arabic during his travel. So Paulo Coelho does an editing here by avoiding some languages known by Aureliano Babilonia.

Macondo is in ruins and everyone starts leaving for other places. Gaston returns to Brussels. Amaranta Ursula is expecting a child by now from Aureliano. When the child is born, it has a pig’s tail. Amaranta dies of excessive bleeding due to the complications. Aureliano covers the dead body and keeps the child in a basket and wanders aimlessly, and then he understands friends are bastards! When he returns, he is not able to find out the child. But the corpse of Amaranta is a pile of stones under the blanket. The pyramids are also a pile of stones which contains corpses of Pharaohs of Egypt! Both Marquez and Paulo Coelho used this phrase only once in both the books, quite interesting isn’t it?

Suddenly Aureliano finds out that the child is eaten by red ants, which reveals the keys of Melquiades’s parchments which say: ‘The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last being eaten by the ants.’ He reads the family history in search of his identity; he understands that Amaranta Ursula is his aunt. The wind blows with cyclonic strength and before completion of the last line; he understands that he would never leave that room. Ultimately the city of mirrors is vanished by the wrath of wind. Macondo is destroyed by the biblical hurricane but Paulo Coelho’s brainchild creates a “SIMUM” which could destroy the enemy camps! Paulo Coelho achieves everything by just reversing. Everything is reversed

There are innumerable examples from One Hundred Years of Solitude in The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho writes: if he ever wrote a book, he thought, he would present one person at a time, so that the reader wouldn’t have to worry about memorizing a lot of names. This sentence from ‘The Alchemist’ itself is the proof of Paulo Coelho’s approach toward Marquez.

The candy man in Tangier reminds the candy business of Ursula. How unfortunate is that not even a single critic compared Paulo Coelho with Marquez!



‘The Alchemist’ Vs ‘The Old Man and the Sea’

The boy named Santiago

In the book The Alchemist, the name of the boy reminds the classic ‘The Old man and the Sea’ by Earnest Hemingway. One can easily find out correlation between the characters, Santiago: the boy from The Alchemist and Santiago: the Old man from The Old man and the sea. Paulo Coelho knowingly used this background to redefine the desert. The plight of the old man is transmuted into the journey of the boy Santiago. Relation between Manolin: the boy and the old man is just reversed in The Alchemist. When the old man loses his treasure, the giant marlin, it is the boy who imparts hope for life. In The Alchemist, the boy Manolin becomes the Alchemist and Santiago: the old man, becomes the boy. The stoic endurance of the old man is transferred to the alchemist. Quite funny, isn’t it?

Old man, who has immense experiences, faces temporary defeat, but the boy who comes in the form of faith saves him from ruins. They both learn the Alchemy of outstanding faith! And funniest aspect is that Paulo Coelho uses the qualities of the old man Santiago: such as honour, dignity, courage and endurance in a life to struggle and tension, in carving out the character of alchemist. Like the old man, the alchemist also practical, unsentimental, and is relentlessly devoted to action and struggle. Paulo Coelho just reversed the roles. Once sea recedes, desert forms. Only thing that Paulo Coelho adds is the gain of treasure after losing his Gold given by the alchemist. The technique he used is quite funny: everything is negative! (Precisely the negative of mirror image!). In Old man and the sea, Manolin learns the art of fishing from Santiago. He understands the sea well, its depths and currents. The old man faces temporary defeat. The boy imparts faith. Santiago goes alone into the sea. He has a giant marlin and their journey is portrayed fantastically. He loses his treasure. But with stoic endurance he proclaims, man can be destroyed, not defeated. When the boy says

Submitted by: smb2001 from India
wonderful and different....the one book which inspired me the most!!!! unforgettable!

Submitted by: tapasya from india
extremely inpiring!

Submitted by: amar from india
the best book i read till now which inspires motivate to follow ur dream's.

Submitted by: Jae from USA
This is as simple as a the best cup of tea on the most perfect fall day.

Submitted by Unknown
simply the most important book i have ever read, and i recommend it to everyone

Submitted by Unknown
This is a wonderful story illustrating the importance of following your heart.

Submitted by Unknown
looking after our soul, read this journey

Not as good as I expected
Review written by: Noelani From Dallas, TX
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees." (pg. 91)

"It's the simple things in lie that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them." (pg. 15)

"The hand of God is firm, but infinitely generous." (preface, pg. vi)

A quote I did not agree with:
"We only accept a truth after we have first wholeheartedly rejected it." (preface, pg. vi)

Find the shepherd boy inside of you
Review written by: Kathleen Gage From
"When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream," the Alchemist.

The underlying theme of this magical, entertaining and spiritually-based book is such that one can't help but realize that we each have a destiny and our only responsibility is to fulfill our calling.

Join the shepherd boy who discovers his hidden passion and how the universe conspired him to to realize his dream in the most amazing ways.

From helping a shop owner increase business, to meeting the love of his life, to being accosted by bandits and finally realizing his dream, the shepherd boy lives in each of us.

Will you heed your calling? Find out by reading The Alchemist. You will be very glad you did.

Actually worse than Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Review written by: D. Holstein From
This book uses child-like prose to write an overly simplistic allegory that manages to drown itself in a teaspoon of water. Lousy from beginning to end it adds no insight, offers no imaginative writing, and is completely worthless.
Many people recommended this book to me, and for that I am saddened about humanity. This book is definitely not for people who enjoy even a modicum of intellectual stimulation. If you are one of those that likes this sort of book, please do not recommend it to others. I am now scornful of many of my acquaintances because of it.

sounds like deepak
Review written by: sisdisco From everywhere and everything
The lines quoted in the Amazon review are straight out of THE RETURN OF MERLIN by Deepak Chopra.

Planning
I think The Alchemist is a good book because of how well it was planned. You can tell Paulo Coelho went in to depth with his research about alchemy and the Sahara desert. He included a lot of detail that added so much to the story.