Until the middle of January, it seems that nobody would question Wikipedia’s assertion that worldwide sales of the fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, had reached 65 million. It now seems that 65 million was the total for all Coelho’s books, up until a few years ago; the total sales for The Alchemist is more like 23 million.
The Alchemist and the Cryptozoologist
In the allegorical fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, much of the story is about a shepherd boy’s travels far from his homeland; he returns to find his purpose fulfilled in his own country. In the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan Whitcomb, only a little is about the author’s travel to Papua New Guinea; he returns to find a possibility that his purpose may be fulfilled in his own country.
A Popular Review of The Alchemist
Yes, much of what negative reviewers of this book have to say is true: the writing is blunt and simple, the characters lack depth and complexity . . . And yet, I have to say . . . that I found it meaningful, even profound at times. How can I say this, given my criticisms? First of all, unlike many reviewers, I did not approach this book with great expectations. No one told me that this was Shakespeare or Tolstoy . . . The characters deliver their statements without subtlety, but subtlety is more a literary virtue than a philosophical one. In fact, I essentially came to view this work as a life philosophy expressed as a fable, so I didn’t particularly mind that its messages were not buried far beneath the surface. . . . I suspect that through his simple tale, he [Coelho] is trying to provide some kind of argument against the kind of cynicism or fear that the world can sometimes instill in us, and encourage us to keep diving into that “strong current” to see where it takes us.