I recently read a book called The Alchemist. This was my second time reading it and it is one of my favorite novels. The book is about a shepherd who sells his sheep to go searching for treasure in another country.

The book starts out with this shepherd having a dream about treasure buried at the pyramids in Egypt. After speaking with a fortune teller and a strange old man he decides to give up his life with his sheep and chase his “personal legend”. Within his first day in Africa he gets robbed and loses everything. Then he spends the next year working with a crystal merchant. Eventually he sets out to look for his treasure again. The journey doesn’t get any smoother. He travels across the desert and gets stuck at an oasis due to a war that’s going on and meets The Alchemist. The Alchemist helps him travel to the pyramids. On their way there they get captured by a warring tribe and have to pull off a miracle to escape. Once he gets to the pyramids he gets beat up and robbed while digging for his treasure. He finds out that one of his assailants had the same dream he did; only his treasure was under a tree back in the shepherd’s homeland. He goes home and finds his treasure buried under the tree.

This book was hard for me to put down. It has a lot of interesting metaphors and life lessons. The overall theme of following one’s destiny or discovering one’s “personal legend” really resonates with me. I like how the shepherd just leaves everything he knows and is comfortable with jumping into the unknown. I also like how his journey is full of obstacles and he doesn’t let anything stop him from pursuing his goal. 

Coach Danny