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Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.

bashkim

Registered User
A very interesting book that i was reading during the week.
To those that know the book: In your opinion what is the message there?
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
It’s been a number of years since I read it... I don’t specifically remember the message but my vague notion was a classic “whet you seek is within you.” Along the same lines as “The Silent Flute” (or “Circle of Iron,” depending on where you live).
 

chrmc

Registered User
I thought it was a good read, but I must also admit that I thought it was a little to over hyped. It was not the transcending, most insightful book ever as I feel some people call it. Good read, good points, and a good lesson, but not that much more special than one contained in much other litterature.
 

Pointwithinacircle3

Registered User
I was amazed when I read this book. At one point the apprentice is taught how to draw a regular dodecahedron using only a compass and a straightedge. (A regular dodecahedron is one of the Platonic solids, it has twelve sides, each side in the shape of a pentagram) I was so intrigued by the description that I went and got pencil, paper, straightedge, and compasses, and began drawing. I was amazed to discover that the directions worked and in short order I has drawn the complex shape described.

It is my understanding that Paul Coehlo is not a Mason. His book is a description of the journey of self discovery by traveling to the east and guided by Geometry. So it does bear some resemblance to Freemasonry.
 

TheThumbPuppy

Registered User
I thought it was a good read, but I must also admit that I thought it was a little to over hyped.

Quite a few years (decades) since I read it. I thought it was well written, especially in the original Portuguese, but not very original. I found it to be a re-write of a lesson that had been illustrated many times over. (I won't say any more to avoid a spoiler alert for those who haven't read it yet).

In the same period or soon after, other books of that same genre were published. Immo they all had in common that same promise for a life-changing revelation. While they had a grain of wisdom sewn deep inside, once their secret was unveiled I found it less than earth-shattering.

An agreeable read for most.
 
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