I’m a little bit behind on my book reading, so I found a short book. The book has you instantly immersed in the world of the story. I guess since this book is so short, I basically live-reviewed it. So, SPOILERS ahead matey!
We start out with a young shepherd boy in Spain. He’s reminiscing about his wandering lifestyle, and how his father supported it.
He met a girl that he can’t stop thinking about, and he’s having a dream analyzed. A little girl plays with his sheep, and then she leads him instantly to the Egyptian pyramids. She says there is a hidden treasure, but he always wakes up before they get to the treasure.
He next meets a man who claims to be the King of Salem. The boy doesn’t know where that is, but the man knows his name, and the names of his family members. The strange man requests 10% of the boy’s sheep and helps him start his Personal Legend. He sells the rest of his sheep and starts off with 2 stones to help him make decisions along the way.
He makes it to Africa and nearly instantly gets robbed. He decides it’s part of his Legend and continues to be hopeful. He ends up working for a devout Muslim crystal merchant. He originally tried to make enough money to get to the pyramids, but the merchant basicallt tells him that it would take too long, so the boy decides to buy more sheep and give up on his dream.
Eventually the boy helps the crystal merchant make more money and get more customers. The merchant considers the boy a good omen. He works there for nearly a year, and asks the merchant’s blessing to leave. The merchant tells him that he’s not going back to Spain to be a shepherd. The boy is surprised, because he forgot about his dream to go to Egypt.
He joins a caravan travelling through the desert and joins them. He meets an Englishman intent on finding the alchemist who lives in the desert oasis. The boy meets a girl at the well, and it’s love at first site. She encourages him to continue on towards his Personal Legend.
The boy has a vision of a war coming to the oasis. He tells the right people and saves lots of lives. The tribesman want the boy to stay and be their counselor. The Alchemist comes to the boy and puts him through some challenges. He tells the boy he’ll help him get to the pyramids.
They travel for days and eventually get caught. The Alchemist tells the tribesmen that the boy can turn himself into wind. He talks to the sand, the wind, and the sun, and basically turns himself into wind. The tribesmen let them go, and they make it to just outside the pyramids. The Alchemist transmutes lead into gold and gives out some of it.
The boy finishes his journey to the pyramids, and starts digging a hole nearby. Some bad guys come and rob him and beat him up. The one guy tells him of a recurring dream of treasure back where the boy used to live. The boy gets them tolet him go, and travels back to his old town. He finds treasure under a tree he slept by months ago. He smiles and makes his way back to his lady…
Lines I liked:
There was a language in the world that everyone understood…it was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.
Everything in life is an omen.
I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’minterested only in the present. If you can concentrate only on the present, you’ll be a happy man…life is the moment we’re living in right now.
It’s not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil. It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.
Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
Everything that happens once can never happen again, but everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.
No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesnt know it.