The alchemist / Way Of The Peacefull Warrior

jay567

Not sure if these books have ever been spoken about (sorry if they have).

I have just finished reading The alchemist, thought it was a great book. the one thing i didnt really like was the ref to religion, if they had of left it ref to nature or something think it would have made it that little bit better.

Also getting to the end of Way Of The Peacefull Warrior, anyone read either of these, if so what did u think?

jay567

Looks like noone has read these books, if thats the case

Zapper

I read the Alchemist a few years back. I didn't think it was too referential to religion but being a heathen i probably just didn't pick up on it.

On the whole though i thought it was very nice. A modern day fable that gets you thinking about your own life. The only qualm i would have with it would have been the way it ended. I know it showed an important lesson about life but it just didn;t sit right with me.

If you liked the Alchemist you should check out "The little Prince" bu Antoine De Saint-Exupery. It's a kids tale really but again it touches on the nature of the human condition.

Archvillain

the alchemist? I have to say not a word of it rang true for me. Heathen or no it read like something spouted by Oprah or one of these hideous american self help monstrocities. It really seemed like a sham scrawled down to impress people who don't really understand spiritualism and only think about things in a superficial, Disney type feelgood kinda way. I really didn't like this book.

Beruthiel

I have read both books
but it was years ago and cannot remember enough about them to comment in detail
however, I enjoyed both books immensely at the time

Zapper

Originally posted by Archvillain
the alchemist? I have to say not a word of it rang true for me. Heathen or no it read like something spouted by Oprah or one of these hideous american self help monstrocities. It really seemed like a sham scrawled down to impress people who don't really understand spiritualism and only think about things in a superficial, Disney type feelgood kinda way. I really didn't like this book.

I would probably agree that it does need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I didn't really think the book at much to do with spiritualism at all. Perhaps i am indeed unsure as to what exactly it is. What little i do know i disagree with. Anyways, the book did not make me think spiritually in any way, I simply read it as a nice wee story with a few good morals in it.

Now, if you really want a hilarious book on spiritualism, pick up the Celestine prophecies...

twinQuins

Originally posted by Archvillain
the alchemist? I have to say not a word of it rang true for me. Heathen or no it read like something spouted by Oprah or one of these hideous american self help monstrocities. It really seemed like a sham scrawled down to impress people who don't really understand spiritualism and only think about things in a superficial, Disney type feelgood kinda way. I really didn't like this book.

A sham? A sham!?

Admittedly we are all of us entitled to our opinions, but that is simply more than I can bare.
Perhaps if you were a little more willing to allow yourself to feel spiritual this book might have held more meaning. The fact that you describe it as "spouted by Oprah or one of these hideous american self help monstrocities." is just something I cannot forgive.
This is by no stretch of the imagination a "self help book". I mean how can you run this wonderful, wonderful book into the ground so? People who don't understand spirtualism are usually cyinical types which you sir appear to be, because if you did have an understanding of spiritualism you would have enjoyed this book.

As for the religious references, what can be expected? The author, Paulo Coelho, is a very religious man as a lot of his other books demonstrate. If people don't like references to religion in their books they might as well cut out countless classics. Religion is not all that predominant in this book and what little there is I think should be taken as a view into spiritualism. After all how can one deal with that which is spiritual without making some, even slight, reference to religion.

Now I will be the first to admit that I myself am a horrible cynic in all execept that which is spiritual.

I know it showed an important lesson about life but it just didn;t sit right with me.

Well perhaps it shouldn't sit right with our outlook on the world in general, but then again it should. We should follow our dreams for better or worse.

Archvillain

look Morkarleth, I don't mean to go upsetting anyone but the fact is Paulo Coelho is a filthy charlatan pedalling flowery little platitudes that have nothing in the least to do with actual spiritualism or philosophy or even logical thought. I would sell his books as hangover cures in order to induce vomiting after long, exhausting bouts of laughter. What can you possibly show me in Paulo Coelho that illustrates anything even mildly interesting or original let alone intelligent in what he's written.

Why if he was here right now i'd..... and then i'd.... and then..... and then he'd....... but then i'd get back up again and...... etc

incidentally i am not a cynic.

jay567

Archvillian, you seem like an angry soul

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After all how can one deal with that which is spiritual without making some, even slight, reference to religion.

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the above is very true Morkarleth, however personally i would prefare something pointed towards nature. Kinda along the lines of some of the Tao writings.

But again i stand by the book as being a very good read.

Some one mentioned the Celestine prophecies, i have just been given this as a gift, is it worth reading?

Earthhorse

I don't want to step into the middle of this punch up but I have to say The Alchemist was a pretty boring read. For a book that was supposed to be a "life changer" there just wasn't enough original thought in there. Yeah, maybe we should follow our dreams, but this book didn't leave me any more prepared to do so than the other countless stories that have said the same thing.

I wasn't convinced by the writing or plot and I can't see why anyone would think this book was great unless they hadn't read much else before.

jay567

The book has sold millions and millions, (i know crap books sell loads also).
I would not consider myself a big reader, maybe 7 books a year. Could some of the negative/positive posters possibly recomend other books on the same kinda topic as these?

Earthhorse

Um, I don't know that I can, given that you like the style of The Alchemist you might not like the rather different style of some of the books I've read.

Clive Barker's Weaveworld has a lot to say about the importance of dreams but it's a horror come fantasy novel, not at all similar to the gentle pace of The Alchemist, and also touches on many different themes throughout.

Ditto Guy Gavriel Kay's earlier works (from The Summer Tree Trilogy to Tigana, haven't read the rest). He doesn't deal exclusively with spirituality but what he does say about it in a chapter or paragraph struck a truer note with me than anything I encountered in Coelho's work.

It's all a matter of taste really (I've simply recommended authors I like to be honest) and I'd argue that one of the shortcomings of The Alchemist was it's dealing with pretty much the one theme, even for such a slim book, whereas books I go for tend to say a lot about a lot of things.

adonis

herman hesse was kinda like coelhio(whateveR)
hesse is much better
try siddharta

Envy

I read The Alchemist last year. I didn't agree with a lot of it, but it was interesting all the same.

I'd like to read some of Coelho's other books, but I've never managed to get my hands on them.

OY

Do you guys not think that it is a book that you take with you what you bring into it. I like to think of this book as a mirror where you see yourself. Take my wife for example: she read it and could not get over the fact that the shepherd just up and left the sheep in the first chapter. And that reflects her nature

You closer you are to your spiritual side the more spiritualism you will see. I am more on Morkarleths side of this argument but it is clear to me that not everyone wil take the same things from this book. e.g: Archvillian clearly found nothing!

Me...i loved it and the ideas that it is ok to up and leave your normality if it means chasing dreams. We all should do it.
<tear>

Archvillain

am i to understand by your closer to your spiritual side comment that you're insinuating I'm stranded on some barren outpost far from the least contact with anything spiritual? -simply because I don't ascribe to what I view as phony hokum spiritualism?
I happen to practice yoga, have read Teilhard de Chardin extensively, not to mention Erasmus, Augustine, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Ibn Sina Avicenna and Mencius. I meditate daily, practice reiki and invite all manner of positives into my life. Coelho happens not to be one of them. He's not a fraud. He simply writes books for people in the west who know nothing about spiritualism and want to be part of it in some passive appreciation society where they can agree with what he says and comment on how lovely it all is and then go shopping for their next pair of levis.

Fenian

Well i read the book a few years ago and i thought it wa s avery good read.(can't remember all the in's and out's but i think he found the treasure near a runned castle he grazed his sheep near at the start of the book) For me the books message was that your destiny is your own, you make it your own, even though the "treasure" was in a pasture in his homeland,if he hadn't of taken the chance too look for it he would never have found it, i think ye have looked too much into the book.